Writing a book can be stressful!

This was me, on occassion, while writing An American in Oz. Whenever my husband would find me in this same position at my desk in front of my laptop he knew I was going through a particularly emotional or trying segment of the trip. Moments like these occurred most often during the first 25 daily entries. All the stress, confusion, and doubt of HOW things were going to work out in the "No Plan" plan played a huge role in PART ONE and PART TWO. I felt it all over again when I was writing about it. The good news is...the more I edited, revisited, and walked through those memories the better my experience was. Confusion led to clarity and doubt led to courage and confidence during the trip and in the writing of the trip.

The second half of the book, as I refer to it even though there are nearly 5 weeks left, was more relaxed than the first. I had moved from being a tourist to a traveler and was better at taking one day at a time. It also helped that all of our travel issues were solved with the purchase of the car.

So from this point on, I have always enjoyed the trip and the book with a lighter emotional load. I have a feeling the blog posts will go more smoothly too.