I am down to working on the last two tales for my short story collection. One, I started back in November of last year and just never finished. The other struck me real fast last week. The contrast of their creation is similar to the themes and events in them as well.

When I first started committing myself to writing I feared working on more than one piece at a time. As I progressed I let the floodgates open and would work on multiple pieces at a time. It’s important to finish what you start. But sometimes I find it easier to reach an un-rushed ending if I can stop and work on something else for a while before coming back to a place I get stuck.

The last two babies for my collection are slow going. They’re both looking to be longer and more detailed. The pressure of making them as good as I want them to be is lingering already. I don’t know which I’ll finish first, or if one will resonate more with readers than the other. Hell at this point, I don’t even know if this book is going to get published at all.

But I thrive off of uncertainty. It keeps me going. I want to see how this pans out, so I let my curiosity and desire to finish what I start fuel my efforts.

I’ve sent what I have off to my super talented artist friend who has agreed to do some illustrations. Knowing that I only have so much control helps. I know most people would rather have full control of everything, but at this point I’ve embraced the truth that what happens in my writing career is often determined by so many outside elements I won’t know what’s going on until everything comes together. If it ever does. haha

For now, I’m focused on finishing the last two stories. They’ll need to be edited, and I want to do another clean sweep on the entire collection before I send it off to the publisher. Not to mention I have rights that need to come back to me on previously published stories. Sometimes I feel like I’m running a marathon in slow motion. It’s like a bad long drawn out scene from a cheesy 80s movie like 18 Again. heehee Gotta love visuals.

I’m definitely due for a celebratory adventure when I’m done. It’s that time of year, so I’ll be out hiking and playing to keep myself from going crazy. Until then, hooray for madness.