As much as I love living in New England, the change of seasons has always been a little difficult. Like most people I have my favorites—spring, with the beginning of new life, and then summer with its heat and long days of sunlight. The transition from summer to fall is most difficult for me. It has always seemed more of an ending than the other seasons. So it feels appropriate that I have just completed my third novel, A Detour Home. It is a sequel to A Better Life, following Jenny and Margaret on their journey, and, to quote Robert Frost, “coming with surprise to an end that you foreknew only with some sort of emotion.”
Coming to the end of a work, a story, feels monumental, glorious and a little sad. Accompanying my characters through their many difficulties and dramas and ordeals, coming to a place where their story is complete, leaves me with both a sense of accomplishment and a sense of loss. I will miss being part of their lives, listening to them, feeling for them, hoping and fearing for them and cheering for them.
There is much to do now. I am working with a developmental editor and hopefully will find an agent who wants to take a chance on me and my work. The publishing and marketing of a novel has a life of its own, a time-consuming but worthwhile process. Endings and beginnings. Seasons and novels.
This Writer's Journey 