On occasion, I pull out a blog I’ve posted before, dust it off and frame it with a different opening and closing simply because it seems appropriate. This morning is one of those times. When I wrote this blog last August, I was just a few weeks away from finishing this book. Now you may think when you type THE END that it’s the end of it – the writer is done. Far from it . . . then comes the editing and the submissions and the waiting and more editing and more waiting. So here’s how it unfolds . . .
Hibernating is something that bears do in the wintertime. It’s also something I do when I’m seriously writing. But unlike bears, I haven’t quite stored up enough fat to last several weeks, so I do come out for food. It means unplugging from social media, saying “no” when I would ordinarily say “yes,” and gracefully declining invitations. I hibernate in my cuddle chair with my laptop and endless glasses of water and cups of tea.
Writing is consuming. I’m surrounded by characters in trouble and situations begging to be resolved. If I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing. A character may wake me at four o’clock in the morning with something that needs to be said. I tell you the truth, writers of fiction hear voices. We hear them, and we write them down and call it dialogue.
Writing is work. It means sitting for hours in the same position, struggling to find THE word, not just A word. Writing is hours upon hours of research, making certain the details are absolutely, unquestionably accurate.
Writing is an escape. If one lives in South Texas in August, even out in the Hill Country, it’s hot. So why wouldn’t I want to hibernate in my cuddle chair and write about a blizzard in Santa Fe?
I can smell THE END, and I rush to the finish line. Only a few more thousand words, and then I’ll say goodbye to characters who have lived with me for the last few months. I’ll close the door to an inn whose halls I have walked and whose woods I’ve hiked in all my imagining. I have felt the bitter chill, smelled the fire, tasted the Indian fry bread and brought resolution to some tangled lives. THE END is a good feeling, especially when (even though I dare not say it) I hope these characters live happily ever after.
And like the bear who’s beginning to stretch, open his eyes, and peek outside, I’m peeking out a bit this afternoon. I’m stretching and thinking about getting acclimated to the real world soon.
Now, back to present day . . . As I say goodbye to some of my favorite characters and leave a place I enjoyed so much to begin a new story yet to be imagined, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to invite you to visit Grey Sage and to meet Maude and Silas and Lily and all those characters who were with me last year. CHRISTMAS AT GREY SAGE will be released on October 17. Check your local bookstores, or you can pre-order now on Amazon.
As I read daily to him while I was writing this book, Bill imagined Grey Sage and gifted me with this unbelievably beautiful original oil painting.
I hope during the coming months you’ll hibernate for just a few hours and allow this enchanting setting and interesting mix of characters and culture to offer you a few hours of thoughtful pleasure and just maybe a fresh look at Christmas this year. Would you let me hear from you if you do?
