To be entirely honest, finances aren't much different for me now. I've still got a ton of debt to pay off, but I'm paying for rent, utilities, groceries, and my cellphone bill much more comfortably. Ava is well-fed, clothed and taken care of. Though teetering from time to time, I'm standing on my own two feet.

The other day, I looked at that mountain of debt that stands in my path. It's intimidating. Phone calls from collectors are no fun to field, and my credit sucks at this point. It's a lot. I just bought a new computer and cellphone, and I started getting upset with myself. How could I spend money on those things when I have so many bills I haven't paid? What am I doing?

You know, it's true. You don't make millions of dollars writing when you first start out. You work your butt off, and you get paid. There are days I would give my right arm to not have to touch my fingers to the keyboard, but this is how I've started to think about it.

Right now, with all of this work, experimentation, failure and success, I am laying a foundation for things to come. I am building my life, brick by brick. I started with nothing but a patch of land to build on and some very basic supplies in my arsenal of knowledge. I'm spending money on construction materials, like a better business phone and a functional computer that *gasp!* has all of its keys.

With every upfront article I write, I pay for some of the cement on which I can build this life. With every residual article I write, I invest in the frame for the walls. With every blog post and comment, I start to get the drywall up. I am building, slowly, but surely.

That debt can be viewed as the debris that has accumulated in the building process. It needs to be cleared away so I can build bigger and better. But before I can get ahead of myself, this foundation has got to be laid.

In the next month, I will be caught up on all of my bill payments. It won't be paid off, but I'll be chugging along. I will have finished the initial phase of my platform experiment, which will give me what I need to start really working on the frame of these walls. Right now, I'm setting up my basement. Soon enough, I'll be building upward.

What's the point of this ramble? The point is that life's struggles can sometimes seem insurmountable. For this reason, looking for the forest can be less fruitful than focusing on that proverbial tree. Instead, next time you get frustrated by the endless stream of bills or complications... stop. Look at the materials you're gathering and the foundation you're laying with the work you've done. Brick by brick, you're building something special. One day, you'll look at what you've built and admire the life you created where chaos once stood.

At least, that's the goal.