Making progress on my book

Stephen King describes book writing as "digging for fossils."  Another author states it as "having the main character climb a tree and then getting him/her down again."  My book is about a 11 year old girl trying to cope with 7th grade, after her father leaves.  I'm not sure why or how the father left.  The little girl, whose name is Meg, will explain it to herself.  At the present time she is trying to deal with the loss of her father, illness of her mother, the bullies at school, organizing herself so that she can communicate both orally and in writing, climb out of her shell, and establish some friendships.  SQ, the talking squirrel, is her loyal companion.