Kate Flora: Another February. I used to joke that I always went crazy in February. But the early months of the year are often a time when I find myself rethinking this writing life. Anguished about whether to bother to go on, despite my love of storytelling. But among the voices are those who say they gave it up. Too discouraging to launch a book into the world and then not have it read.
Too disheartening to not get publisher support and having to do it all on their own. I want to know what little Mason is like as he grows up. I want to know how Thea and Andre will find the necessary balance in their lives between work and family. Two dark police procedurals that are meant to be the first books in new series.
The Darker the Night, a strong male detective tracking a serial killer, and Scarred, a strong female detective facing a mysterious killer who seems to be replicating the killings of her own siblings. I expect that my beloved children, if faced with the chaos that is my office, will probably respond with a flame thrower unless I first embrace Swedish Death Cleaning.
The temperature hovers in the single digits. Even a trip out to refill the bird feeder feels slightly dangerous as I perch with snowy feet on a small stool so I can reach it. So yes. In February I will dither and consider giving it all up so that I can loaf and read and maybe take up a new hobby.
But in March, I will very likely sit down at the computer and type: Chapter One. Our group post last week had me going through my photos of winter in Maine, and that led, inevitably to pictures of a three-and-a-half-day weather event that was unprecedented here in Maine.
