A Fall Pause

I’ve worked on my second memoir for almost three years now. Not constantly, as there was a several month pause to pay homage to the damn cancer, but for the most part.  Multiple hours of research into family genealogy, days of writing, revising, editing, then revising again, even a journey to a small village in Southern Italy.

              This week, I finished. The last chapter has been edited, the proposal has been submitted to my publisher, and the final version (for now) has been uploaded to the cloud for safekeeping. So, you’d think I would feel exhilarated—and I do—but I also feel a bit empty. There’s something sorrowful about completing a labor of love, like saying goodbye to an old and dear friend. 

              Now, I realize that this is not really goodbye. If I’m fortunate enough to have my publisher want to send this memoir out into the world (fingers crossed), there will be lots more edits, reviews, design of the book cover, plans for promotion, etc.  Yet, saying so long for now leaves me a bit melancholy. 

              I thought about starting a new project—endings are often transitions to new beginnings—but I’ve decided to take a few months off to spend more time reading the growing stack of TBR books, going out to lunch with friends, walking my dog through fallen leaves, lying on the couch watching terrible Hallmark movies, maybe even cleaning out the garage.  A pause.

              Happy Fall, everyone!