With the complete of Free Agent’ galley proofing, I’ve had time to go back and do a sort of writer’s spring cleaning.\u00a0 By that I mean I sorted through all my archived writing.\u00a0 In there I found the first three books I ever tried to write.<\/p>\n
I remember reading an author whose advice say “The first novel you love, you will be so entangled with, you will never get it right. Let it die and move on.”\u00a0 At the time those words offended me.\u00a0 Not my<\/em> story.\u00a0 Not my<\/em> characters.\u00a0 I’d fix them, I was sure.<\/p>\n I didn’t.<\/p>\n I won’t.<\/p>\n There comes a point in every story where you have to step back and let it go.\u00a0 Walk away, smile and say “This is done.”\u00a0 For better or worse, you’ve done what you can with it.\u00a0 Those first books are ones I can’t fix.\u00a0 I can’t even say I want to fix them.<\/p>\n I want to tell new stories.\u00a0 Better stories.\u00a0 Ones that make you laugh and cheer and maybe cry.\u00a0 Or, if you are of a persuasion that never cries, maybe it’s just dusty in the room.\u00a0 The old stories won’t do that.\u00a0 Maybe I can write new ones that will.<\/p>\n There’s one way to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the complete of Free Agent’ galley proofing, I’ve had time to go back and do a sort of writer’s spring cleaning.\u00a0 By that I…<\/p>\n