Look to the horizon and... choose... wisely...

# "I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower, makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her..." # - Counting Crows

I thought I’d end the year that was 2015 with a short post, reflecting on an aspect of my writing life that’s been on my mind a lot recently - and for me personally, it’s a biggie…

This year has seen me reach the last full stop on the final page of the ultimate draft of a story that’s driven my needs and wants to be a published author for almost all of my writing life so far (about 18 years off and on, from having the initial germ of an idea for the book, way back when…)

And here’s the thing (or the rub?!) – I set out about taking my writing online back in 2006, (a decade ago next year) with the intention of using it to help me write that first book.  I set up this blog to document my writing progress and process, and now that I’ve actually finished that book, it’s left a huge question looming overhead… “What now?”

Of course I’ve got other ideas for other stories yet to be told, but the real conundrum, and decision, I guess is, do I just leave it there? And declare “enough is enough”? Have I finally achieved what I set out to do almost ten years ago with the completion of that novel? Do I want to put myself through further heartache and sleepless nights, having ideas and characters rolling around inside my head with any new book I embark on?!

OK, so there’s a lot more than one big question there and I think the ultimate answer is short and sweet – “Yes, of course I do!”  But the explanation is more complicated, and it’s to do with who I’ve realised I am as a person over this past decade.

I just know that I’m innately wired to think up stories, to imagine strange new worlds, if you will, and I’ll never, ever give up trying to put my ideas down in some medium, old or new.  And as I touched on last month, I do believe my creative scribbles are a therapeutic process for me in a lot of ways.  I guess, it’s still the lingering enigma of gaining a place in the traditional publishing world that after all this time eludes me and makes me pause for thought at this junction on my “Road to Publishville” – but I guess any road worth travelling is a long one, so going into 2016, I’ve got my sights set on a few publishing ideas of my own (one old and one new) – and any good story isn’t over until it’s over, and that’s a really comforting thought that helps me wear a contented smile during the long dark and doubt that winter brings.