We come to beginnings
only at the end. William Throsby
Bridges
Okay, I admit I don’t have the foggiest clue who this guy
is, but I like this quote. Sometimes
endings can be a blessed relief, or bittersweet – just ask any elementary
school teacher who says goodbye to a difficult or a delightful class. The teacher remembers all the good things and
tries to forget the bad ones. Parents do
the same things. As their children grow
up, good parents work to reinforce the good things the kids do and discourage
the bad ones, all the while offering up heartfelt prayers that their offspring
will be productive members of society – and not burdens on it.
Authors have the same hopes for their books and the
characters they create. We spend weeks
or months with these people and when we’re finished writing their story, we
want you to like them and care about them as much as we do. Still, it’s hard to let them go. They have lived in our heads for so long,
making mistakes, doing good things, being sweet or flat-out bull-headed, that
it’s hard to release them and make room for the next batch of characters who
will, by turns, enchant and infuriate us and each other.
This has been on my mind because this week I finished a book
– writing, proofreading, editing, formatting and putting it up online. It’s only on Amazon right now, with other
retailers to follow. The title is Flirting With The Enemy and it’s the
most recent book in my Lucky Break, Arizona series. I hope my readers will enjoy it and I have to
stop second-guessing myself about the characters and the story and move on to
the next one, another Lucky Break book that takes place at Christmas.
Patricia
Forsythe is the author of many romance novels, both print and ebooks and is
always working on more. Most of them take place in the quirky little town
of Lucky Break, Arizona. You can visit her at patriciaforsythebooks.com.
Patricia, I envy you having finished your book. I'm struggling to do the same. I'm tempted to write "The End" in the middle and call it a day.
ReplyDeleteAngela, that actually sounds like a good idea. Think what a surprise it will be for your readers. ;-)
ReplyDeletePatricia, I like that quote because literally for me The End is like a beginning - until that book is put up for sale, we just keep fiddling and fiddling and fiddling on our manuscripts.... I remember when I was a kid, back in the typewriter days, when I wrote there were maybe three legit drafts. Now there isn't really any such thing as a draft, at least, not the way I work!!
ReplyDelete