The End

Between “Diva” excerpts, I finally finished a story. The draft of a story, actually, and not my first crack at the concept. The little piece born of Midnight Waltz a few years back and rekindled last year by Dark Waltz found life in a third version, this one taken from the waiter’s point of view. It’s the longest of the three, being more detailed in structure and character development (strangely—for me—the second version is the shortest; only a single page long), and is likely my favourite for those reasons. I like detail and I like to develop characters. Both take time and, without whining, time has lately been in short supply.

The big deal here is that I finished something! Hats and horns! Let the bells ring out and the banners fly! A little polish, the addition of one tiny “scene between”, and I’ll type THE END for the first time since completing “The Devil She Knows” in November 2014.

This is also the first time I’ve taken the same story from different points of view. It started with the heroine—or female protagonist, because I’m unsure that anything about my absinthe-soaked siren is truly heroic—and her perception of the boy who rescues her. Eventually, it came clear that he wanted his say. Two and a bit years later, he has it. I’ll post it when it’s buffed, so please stay tuned.

Time for a hockey joke:

A Scandinavian player gets a breakaway. Clearing the defence, he prepares to shoot and loses the puck. Over on the bench, one player says to another, “All Swedish and no Finnish.”

Okay, so it’s funnier when it’s said aloud. It’s still relevant because, yup, that’s me. I’m great at starting stories, not so hot at finishing them. This isn’t a big deal, not being life or death, but it is frustrating. So finishing my little story about François and Odette feels like a huge obstacle has been cleared and I am free to tackle another stalled story until, one by one, every half-finished file in my “in progress” folder is transferred to “completed”.