Like every other time of year, this is my favorite. The colors have been spectacular here in the Midwest this fall, and they've hung on much longer than usual. It's like Mother Nature is patting us and saying, "There, there," because 2020's been so difficult and beauty makes everything more bearable.
It's been a hard writing year for me. A year of maybes and outright rejections, of career corners that I can't seem to find my way around, of winding down before I'm sure I'm ready. I haven't completed a full-length book, although I'm close. And I may never write another one. That thought doesn't hurt as much as it used to, although there's still some sting to it.
But in this season of...not discontent, exactly...more like autumn itself, such lovely things have happened. My story, Something New, was part of Last Chance Beach: Summer's End and my novella, Wisdom of the Heart, is in Christmas Comes to Dickens. As a writer, there's not much that's better than being nestled in among talented friends. Writing these short stories and having all the feels while doing so have made the colors last so much longer and brighter and better than they might have.
Stories always have beginnings, middles, and ends. Sometimes the middle sags, but sometimes you want it to go on for a really long time because even if the end is wonderful, you don't want the story to be over yet. That's where I am in my writing life. There on the crossbar watching the sunset. And hoping it lingers a while.
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Speaking of Facebook--weren't we?--we hope you join us tomorrow for a Facebook party. There will be lots of conversation, fun, and maybe a giveaway or two. https://www.facebook.com/groups/christmasindickens/
