Between one thing and another, it’s been nearly a year since I worked on my writing. To be honest, I’ve been so preoccupied with the art and life in general that I hadn’t thought too much about it until now.
A while back, I toyed with the idea of publishing a collection of short mystery stories that I had written over the years. I thought it might be fun to start there.
I save all my novels and short stories in separate computer files, so I didn’t need to hunt for them. To my amazement, though, I have several of them; some I had completely forgotten about. There’s one titled, “Murder on Mohawk Hill” that I wrote in 2017, yet it wasn’t until I started reading the first few paragraphs that I remembered it. This is crazy stuff!
I looked down the list of other titles I had saved; some were familiar, others were not. I’ve been so excited to write that I couldn’t wait to get started. First thing in the morning, I grab a cup of coffee and go to my computer. In the past three days, I edited three stories and am working on a fourth.
I suppose deep down inside I knew how different painting and writing make me feel, but it wasn’t until this moment that I consciously expressed it. You see, when I paint, I’m relaxed—lost in the image I’m creating and the choice of colors I’m going to use. Sure, there’s a thinking process to painting, but it’s a calm and healing experience. Writing, however, truly excites me. A whole other part of my brain kicks in. I go to sleep thinking about the story line and characters, and I wake up ready to go at it again.
I’m not sure how many shorts I’ll pack into this first collection, but I’m just hopeful that it’ll be well-received.