Staring Down the Wishing Well

My Umbrella Update - So far Absolution's Curse has not garnered enough sales to purchase a nice sized umbrella but it did manage to fund a few packs of sugarfree gum.

I'm done with the first round of edits for my second novel, Always Remember Me. Hopefully all changes will be complete by the end of July or early August. I still have to get a cover made but at least I'm drifting in the right direction. In future posts I'll give information about the story but for now I'll just say it's the next chapter in the tale of Frank and his adventure.

The third, and final chapter swims somewhere between the keyboard and my subconscious with a few scraps already clinging to life in scattered Word documents. But fear not, the end was written long before I had any thought of publishing.

This project has affected me in ways I'm not sure I was prepared for. I've jumped all over the screen for this post, first keying a moody, brooding version where I questioned my true writing intentions before typing a happy, uplifting version, thanking the 669 entrants to my Goodreads Giveaway. Now I have this one which dances somewhere between insightful and bleak.

I have issues.

[Oh crap, there goes another version in the trash bin.]

Anyway, I titled this week's post "Staring Down the Wishing Well" because I really like that picture looking down a staircase (ha, I made an Impressionist funny) but also because I've been reflecting upon my commitment to writing.

What am I wishing for? What do I want out of this adventure?

In Absolution's Curse, Frank wants to change his life. It's time to move past the lawless, reckless days of youth. Age and a strange sense of responsibility bring a new perspective. He's no longer looking for the big hit, that one scam to break the bank. He wants a simple, quiet existence. To be left alone to live out his days in an undeserved peace.

I'm not a scam artist like Frank, but I feel his longing. I want writing to alter my own story in small way. My wish, when I peaked down that stairwell, was to have my quiet voice heard. I want my story to find a home in reader's hearts.

But, as Frank finds when his good intentions go badly awry, wishes don't always follow the same path as coins tossed in the well. Sometimes pain and neglect must be endured.

Frank's story is not pretty, nor should it be. There's no light without dark. No joy without pain.

Absolution's Curse is his dark, his pain. Mine too. I don't write to be pretty. I don't believe in happily ever after. But I do believe in the heart of man. I believe if we keep moving forward, we'll find the light and joy.

My wish for writing (besides a spiffy umbrella) is to experience that journey to the end. I hope to see you along the way.

C.L. Blanton