For years, my writing time has existed somewhere between “Mom, I need help!” and “What’s for dinner?”

As a homeschooling mom of four, I’ve spent my days helping my children learn, grow, and find their way. It’s meaningful work, but it doesn’t leave many quiet hours for inventing worlds. Sometimes, by the time everyone is settled and I finally open my manuscript, I can barely remember the sentence I meant to write.

The ideas, however, have always stuck around.

While I was teaching lessons, folding laundry, and raising my family here in the Pacific Northwest, characters kept turning up in my imagination. They had problems to solve, secrets to reveal, and remarkably little regard for my schedule.

For a long time, those characters had to wait. I chose to put a writing career on hold so I could dedicate my time to my children. That choice mattered to me, even when it meant setting aside something else I loved.

It also means I’m beginning this chapter later in life than I once imagined.

There’s a little uncertainty in that. It’s easy to wonder where I might be if I’d started sooner. But raising four children has given me plenty to bring to the page: a deeper understanding of love, conflict, courage, and how five people can hear the same instructions and interpret them completely differently.

Now, I’m making room for the stories I’ve wanted to tell.

Through SCBWI and my critique group, I’m learning, revising, and finding encouragement among people who understand the excitement of a scene finally coming together—and the frustration of realizing it needs another rewrite. As I work toward sharing my debut novel, something that once felt far away is becoming wonderfully real.

I’m excited. I’m nervous. And I’m looking forward to finding out where this journey leads.

If you’d like to come along, sign up below for writing updates, glimpses behind the scenes, and news about my debut novel. I’d love to share this next chapter with you.

—Arleen