Loose Ends

Bandit on Steve’s chair.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged regularly. I love to write and create, yet life and responsibilities seemed to take precedence. I almost felt guilty devoting time out of my day to writing. Actually, I take that back—I did feel guilty.

Nobody said it was a bad thing, but my creative brain created a narrative that kind of stuck. How rude.

I’d been working on a novel for fifteen years off and on, but could not seem to complete it. As a writer of the pantser persuasion, my story hit some dead ends and grew in places it probably shouldn’t have. The developmental editing phase was harder than it should have been, but I created that monster and knew it was a tale I needed to straighten out and finish.

That all changed when Steve had a dream about our late Yorkie, Bandit. In the dream, Bandit “told” him that he would meet us at the bridge for coffee to reminisce about our family life in the country. I imagined meeting him every day as he brought back memories of our life long ago.

That became the epilogue for my memoir, Coffee at the Bridge, which is a compilation of blog posts I wrote fifteen years ago, plus one bonus chapter that came to me recently. I knew that I needed to organize and edit them into a cohesive piece so that it would be my first published work.

I went back to my novel and finished it—I think—but could not rest until I published my memoir. This week, I published the ebook, and the paperback will be published within a few days.

On to the final edits of the mystery, which has the seeds of a prequel and sequel already sown.

Once I tied up my loose ends and finished what I started all those years ago, I was better able to focus on the novels. It’s kind of like being able to go out and play after you finish your chores. If you hunker down and get ‘er done, you get more time to keep going until the streetlights come on.

Writing is no longer something I feel guilty about—a guilt I wrongly decided to feel. It is a part of my life that’s always been there, but now I don’t think about it—I just do it.

I have to admit I made myself smile with that last sentence, as I was thinking about it when I wrote it. I’ll just leave that one where it lies.