Milestone

I did it! I typed “The End”. Granted, it’s at the end of my first draft. Book 1 in “The Beech Tree” series. It’s called, “Under the Beech Tree”. I did not realize just how exciting that would be! I mean, I typed “The End” in college with short stories I wrote for my fiction writer’s workshops. But, this was different. This…is me. This…is near and dear to my heart. This…is what I have wanted to do for most of my life. I have been living and loving and succeeding and failing…all for this. Every single thing has built me, and built my book. My life’s work. My very soul.

I’m editing now: adding, shifting, embellishing, changing some character arcs I thought I was pretty solid with. But, I love the changes, I love the deepening, adding the touches that will help the reader FEEL the emotion, the surroundings. And one of the things I have been most excited about is how the story develops and evolves, How the characters talk in my head and how they sometimes hijack the words and where I was trying to go. I’m giddy over every single character and all the emotions they feel.

I’m world-building, which is challenging and exciting. Creating rules and mythologies. And, best of all, very deep loves and friendships. I am giving my characters the things I KNOW exist, but am not likely to have here on Earth. They have it in their world. The “I’m not going anywhere” vibe will be woven throughout any work I do.

Because it’s not impossible. And neither is me, publishing my work. It will happen.

“Write about what you don’t know about what you know ~Eudora Welty

I like this. I've read too many bad books. And I think it was because they were writing about things they have never felt, or experienced. The writing process has a way of bringing out things we never realized about the things we HAVE experienced. All part of the wonderful process of living, learning and growing.

What would you write if you weren’t afraid?

I'd write pieces of my true self into every character. The good, the bad and everything in between. I'd write about what I've always longed for, but never received...how it would feel to actually have it. I'd write about things I can't let go of, and what it might feel like to live free of that burden. I'd write about the things I wish had never happened, and the things I wish would. I'd write my frustrations, my sorrows, and finally say the things I could never say to those who have hurt me. I'm doing this now, or at least starting to, and maybe that is why this process is anything but easy.

More thoughts…

began with being an avid reader, which is odd because my grades in elementary reading were never great. They always seemed to push reading quickly and catching every detail. I was the one who would move slowly through each piece, saying each word in my head, almost giddy over how the words flowed and sounded, one after the other. My comprehension was fine if I could do this. But they liked to push getting things done in a small amount of time. That said, when I read on my own time, I grew to love it. I wrote little stories here and there. I even chose to write sequels to some of the required reading in school as project or extra credit work. I majored in English in college, and even got my degree in Fiction Writing, despite people trying to talk me into learning more "marketable" skills, my English advisors included.

I'm into my 50s now, and I'm writing again. This time feels different. I love what I'm writing about. I work on it daily. I'm in love with the subject matter and my characters. I hear them having conversations in my head. I'm excited to get it in print, in many formats. I want it to reach people. I don't expect it to be life changing for my readers, but I do want to touch them. I could not ask for more.

A work in progress…

It’s hard to say when I started this journey. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was ten. I did a little of it in my childhood. A little more when I was in college. I even majored in fiction writing. I picked up a pen and got started multiple times. I’d have the seed of an idea and no real development. And I would always hope the characters would start talking and it would somehow write itself. Needless to say, I have folders and notebooks full of starts, one that even got to a tenth chapter. I would lose inspiration and shelf it.

Right now, I’m in the middle of writing Chapter Thirty of “Under the Beech Tree”. The action is drawing to a close for my heroine, Rory. It has been an amazing, stressful, emotional, peaceful journey. One I wouldn’t trade. I started her story in 2021, walked away for a couple of years, came back to it, took another break, and picked it back up in January. I dove back into research and I was off and running.

I’m not stopping this time. Rory’s story needs to be told. And her story will branch into the stories of the amazing women in her life.

Each of these women…is me. And I’m excited to share this with you.