On Wednesday I penned the last lines of the sequel to “Seven Turns” (working title: “Moonlight and Moss“.) Looking at my Twitter feed in retrospect, I found it a bit remarkable that this happened at about the same time as the Launch Party for Seven Turns, and I wonder, now: is it just me, or if there really is some kind of synergistic synchronicity that happens when we write, whether or not we are aware of it?
Probably it’s just me noticing things that happen to be coincidental if you look at them in a specific light. (You may recall my blue funk, about this time last year, over the passing of the mighty Gregg Allman at about the same time I was penning the dénouement to Seven Turns.)
The fact is, I am making a deliberate effort to have this arc of stories about Woodley, USA come out approximately one year apart. I still lave loads of editing and adjusting to do, and then the beta reader phase to go through, and then the very special hell of appealing to agents and publishers to please, please, please take on Moonlight and Moss as a project but, considering how crazy my life has become since the publication of Seven Turns, I’m really only a couple of months behind the curve here. As any writer will tell you: a novel takes exactly as long as it needs to take to be completed: no more, no less. I think this little coincidence is a definite sign that I am at least almost sort of meeting that goal!
And, after all, this is part of why I started keeping a blog and a Twitter feed and a Facebook in the first place: to document the history of this contribution of mine to the world of literature, so that I and perhaps others might look back someday and say, “Oh, hey, did you realize…?”
As the equally (perhaps, someday) mighty Johnny Sinatra has lyricized: “I’ve seen it a thousand times before – it’s what they call timing.”
Your writing style is so comfortable, naturally smooth and not easily interrupted, that I was halfway through your book before I realized it. I read about 104 books every year, but it’s not often I find one I can really immerse myself into so easily and quickly, like Seven Turns. And I don’t think I’m what you’d consider to be your primary “demographic” either; I’m male, and 72 years into this life.
I enjoyed your balance of real and “other” worlds; your imagination works perfectly, for me anyway. I look forward to your next offering.
(Can I assume you live in NC? We moved to NC from MD about 6 years ago.)
Thank you! It’s true that I am surprised to find men enjoying the story-world of Woodley, USA as well as women. I had honestly thought it would appeal only to women my own age, but both men and women of all ages seem to be enjoying it, which makes me happy, because the whole reason I wrote it is for people to enjoy!
Yes, I do live in NC now, though like Cally I formerly lived all over the country. Many of her first impressions of life in the south are similar to mine, and I’m happy to call it my home now.
The sequel, Moonlight and Moss, is in its final draft and I will begin seeking a publisher for it by the end of this month. I hope to have news soon about when it will be coming out!