Where January was long, February is SHORT.
Yet I feel like we’ve jammed a whole lot more into February than I ever would’ve guessed.
Life Update:
My husband and girls attended the Daddy & Daughter Dance (my oldest’s LAST) while my son and I went to the Mother & Son Dance. He goes to socialize, but danced with me once so no complaints.
I finally attacked my “Monica closet” (Friends reference) of an art closet. I’m proud to say that not only did I conquer the art closet, but also tamed my messy, overstocked desk.
In the kitchen, I’ve discovered a love of Japanese rice balls while my daughter, 11 years old, made monkey bread for the first time from SCRATCH. It was delicious and devoured within an hour, which had her a little distraught. That’s baking for you, my girl.
My youngest and I made a panda Valentine’s Day box together and she won the Cutest Box Award in her class along with a stuffy. She was thrilled. Our puppy, Whiskey, turned 1 year old and got an extra treat to celebrate. He’s floppy, uncoordinated and annoying. The kids and I love him fiercely. My husband is still on the fence.
For the last three-day weekend of February, we ventured out into the desert in our RV, Big Princess, with my parents and motorcycles in tow. The kids gained confidence behind the wheel and had an absolute blast. They have been trying to convince us that we need to do it every weekend from now on and forever more.
Writing Clarity & Renewed Focus
I’ve made it a goal to give more of my focus to my kids this year and I started by deleting Instagram. I’m going to be completely honest… I don’t think I’ll ever want to return to it! I haven’t felt this much mental clarity in a LONG time. I’m taking pictures for myself again and also not feeling stressed about TAKING pictures to post. I’m living in first person again and, more importantly, my creativity seems to be overflowing.
Two months ago, I would sit down to write and struggle to start, feeling burdened with even the act of merely beginning. Now, I can’t wait to sit down and actually write which is a huge blessing.
Writing looks different than it did before.
I never seem to have enough time to take everything that’s sitting in my head and tack it out onto the computer no matter how much time I have. It’s still hard for me to be okay with that fact sometimes. I want and wish so badly to be able to-to have the energy to sit down at the end of a long day and spend hours writing. But the honest truth is, I have a lot more on my mind and on my schedule (reread the above February update).
I had a conversation recently with a sibling and we talked about doing things we want to do vs. things we have to do.
He said, “I always do the stuff I don’t want to do first because I know that if I don’t want to do it, it needs to be done and the stuff I actually want to do can wait.”
Wise words, but the crazy part is that some of things I have to do have become things I want to do.
Don’t get me wrong! I want to write! But I sometimes want to cuddle on the couch with my husband more. I sometimes want to help my son with homework more. I sometimes want to play a card game after dinner with the kids. Sometimes- sometimes – I actually value the sleep I get and I want to go to bed more than anything else in this world.
I’ve realized that I’m currently living in what I call “the shuttle years.” I’m a shuttle driver, shuttling my kids from one activity to the next. It began at the end of this last year and has only began to pick up speed. At the end of 2025, my oldest was in rec. volleyball. I co-coached with my mom and her team won the championship game! After that, my youngest had her soccer team place first for her age group for the local rec. league. My son’s soccer season is starting soon, my daughter will be doing spring volleyball, and I’m going to be writing and directing a play for our church youth group, not to mention helping plan and organize a youth summer camp too.
Needless to say, we’re BUSY. I’M busy.
But through it all, the urge to write down all the stories I’ve got bouncing around in my head is persistent and nagging. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to shake it until I’ve written every single one of them down.
The hour or two here and there is never enough, but it is helping me eat away at my 90,000 words by June 1st goal for this project. I’m already at 22,939 words – a forth of the way there! And nearly every bit of writing time I get is thanks to my husband. He’s not only my greatest cheerleader as I work towards writing my books, but my greatest support, ensuring I have every tool under the sun to ensure my success. I’m so incredibly grateful that I have him in my corner.
And just for fun, here’s a snippet of my project – I’ll call it Project Forest for now. Enjoy!
Dad had only one rule about the forest: Never cross the stream to the West.
Never stay out past nightfall became a type of honorary second rule, but that was easy to follow. I was never tempted to stay out adventuring at night. Not knowing what was lurking behind a tree or underneath a rock had a kind of magic about it in the sunlight. When the sun sank below the tree-line and the moonlight turned the trees into long-limbed creatures with hairy backs and spikes for fingers, the magic leached into horror.
It was rule number one that always bothered me.
Until next time,
Allie Marin
Allie Marin 