It’s getting embarrassing, writing yet another post about my work on the historical fiction about the Armenians who immigrated and settled in Troy, NY, and founded the Protestant Armenian church where I grew up. You would think being retired would allow me to focus entirely on this project. Yet I’ve discovered a multitude of interests and friends in retirement that pull me away from the leisure of writing daily. One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to carve out at least a few hours daily to move my story forward. I’m still trying to make that resolution work. In my defense, I’ve had some health issues, as has my husband, and that combination has taken up too much of my time. But things are looking up now, and I aim to move my story beyond Chapter 13.

Another challenge for me is dealing with names – many of my characters are based very loosely on actual people. Since I don’t know their stories in detail and can’t prove them as factual – and since all of the original church founders are long gone – do I have the right to use actual names or should I create new names for all characters? So far I’ve used real names, but they are in red so I can go back and make changes if/when needed.

I sometimes get bogged down in the details – is it better to just get the story line written and go back later to flesh out descriptions and character personalities? Or will who the individuals are be critical to how the story flows?

I’ve re-written the early chapters multiple times. Should I just stop reading what’s already written until the whole story draft is completed, then go back and flesh it out further?

It hasn’t helped that my time has been pilfered by way too many commitments – some planned, some unexpected but essential.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it—just like I’m sticking to my commitment to complete this intriguing story. That’s not self-praise. The story of Troy’s early Armenian Protestants really is amazing.

Church members at the groundbreaking of the original Protestant Armenian church in Troy, NY.