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Dear writers,

Our written stories are supposed to come to a conclusion, to an end, to be Finite.

At least, that’s the goal.

But what if we find ourselves stuck somewhere in the middle of the story and there’s nowhere to go? Or, heaven forbid, what if we’re still struggling with the beginning?

Now you’re wondering. Is this the point where Carolyn starts talking about writer’s block, what to do about it, blah-la-la?

Nope. Not going to.

I could also encourage you. You know, I could tell you to keep going, to not give up, that your ideas are good ones.

But you already know all that.

I think many of our stories are not meant for completion. Maybe those unfinished pages still sitting on a dusty shelf (or buried in the depths of your computer) have already served a purpose.

Perhaps:

• the words we wrote gave us practice so we could write something better in the future.
• the research taught us something we wouldn’t have known otherwise.
• we learned something about ourselves through a character in disguise.
• the time we spent writing that bugger saved us from getting into some other kind of trouble. 😉

Whatever the reason, I have plenty of stories that have never seen their ending.

Does this happen to you?

Do your characters keep you awake a night by flicking your ears trying to discover how they ended up?

I say, let them flick all they want. Let’s just remind them that if it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t have been “born” in the first place.

Sincerely,

C D-W