Endings and Beginnings

This is the title of the final chapter of the book.  Stories, like life, don't have a fixed end or beginning in my experience.  In the case of my narrative, we jump into Lydia and Elaine's lives at a certain point.  That point isn't necessarily the very first in the series of events that culminate on the night of the Storm but it is "a" beginning from which we can follow them.

Certainly, the point at which the book ends is only "an" ending.  Not only because, as an author, it would be unwise to write myself into a narrative cul-de-sac on my first outing!  Storm on the Cathe is about events that will have a profound impact on the direction of the characters' lives.  The immediate may resolve but as with any crisis in life, at the point of resolution (be it happy or painful) new paths and possibilities open up.

It should not really have come as such a surprise to find that completing the story and publishing it in e-book form isn't the end of my journey.  I have new anxieties and tasks to occupy me.  Listings and profiles to "tweak", profiles to create and download stats to become slightly obsessed over! This blog won't end with publication either.  There is more I'd like to discuss and share about the world and the characters.

Another beginning, which I await with some trepidation, is feedback.  Over 200 people now have copies of Storm on the Cathe when only a few days ago only close friends and family had read it.  At some point (hopefully!) star ratings and comments will follow.  I'm not going to pretend that I don't care about what people say about the way the story is written. Or even how well I have succeeded in crafting something people will enjoy.  Oddly though, what I am really anxious about is how the characters fare.

Lydia and Elaine have been part of my imagination for many years.  What I am most nervous and excited about as I await feedback is how they have been received.  In a sense, in publishing the story, it is they who have begun a journey.  All I can do now is wish them "Fair winds and safe return".