Ahhh, it’s nice to be finished

It is definitely nice to be finished. My new e-book, the second in the Mackenzie Wilder/Classic Boat Mystery series is now available at Smashwords.  In Sweet Corn, Fields, Forever, Mackenzie meets Tory, an old friend of Jason Fields, who is a country musician, half of a songwriting/performing duo with her brother, Tyler McCloud. When their group tours the north country around Albany, things start to happen.

“Sometimes a new beginning is someone else’s end, 

a circular relationship where time begins to blend, 

You have to ask the question: where have we come, and how? 

‘Cause the end’s in the beginning, 

And the beginning’s in us now”

– from “The End’s in the Beginning” by Tyler McCloud

Jason Fields is opening his new research and design facility with a grand Open House. Before the event begins, he gives Dr. Mackenzie Wilder a personal tour — which puts an early end to the festivities. They discover the body of country musician Tyler McCloud, strangled in a first floor conference room.

They’re sure they didn’t have anything to do with his death, but Jason’s past involvement with country music and this particular family lead authorities to think otherwise. It takes Mackenzie Wilder’s faith in her friend and the staunch support of Tyler’s sister Tory to uncover “what Tyler did to get hisself killed.” From upstate New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, from Las Vegas to Nashville, the deaths and confusion mount.

Could Tory be at the center of it all? This may be one song she can’t sing or write her way out of. It will take their combined resources to stop the killing, at a cost far higher than the diamonds on a country singer’s costume.

 

Finishing this book felt as great as you might think. It’s done! No more plot twists. No more continuity checks. No more fine-tuning sentences and word choices.

Wait a minute. There’s a sequel, right? I have to figure out what’s happening there and start writing. And I have to revise the mainstream novel I set aside. And I have continue the other mainstream novel I set aside. Plus there’s the freelance work that has suddenly picked up. And the writing for my part-time job. And did I say I’d be ready to edit something for my  publisher friend?

HE-ALP!

Okay, like the title of this blog says…a writer’s work is never done. I go from the euphoria of one completed project to the blood, sweat, and tears of the next – unfinished – one.  [sigh]

To be both honest and fair, it’s work I love. And if you have to be overloaded and challenged, it might better be with work that you love.

the delight of creating a new story
the triumph of coming up with the right word or phrase
the ecstasy of a beautiful plot twist that ties up loose ends and amazes the reader
the joy of sales – not just for the money, however nice that is, but for knowing someone out there is reading and enjoying your work.

Okay, so I wouldn’t have it any other way. And boy, am I glad I have this at all!

Good luck with your  next work.