{"id":1648,"date":"2018-01-08T16:02:41","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2018-01-08T16:02:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:02:41","slug":"the-journey-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/?p=1648","title":{"rendered":"The Journey Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>\u2015\u00a0Ursula K. Le Guin<\/strong>,\u00a0The Left Hand of Darkness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two confessions to begin with: I have a writer\u2019s crush on Ursula LeGuin and I have never read her fiction (yet).<\/p>\n

I spent the weekend reading her latest book of essays published last month \u2013 No Time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Ursula LeGuin is an inspiration for any writer but at eighty-eight, this is especially true for writers like myself who begin to write later in life.<\/p>\n

January is traditionally the time of year for both reflections and new beginnings.<\/p>\n

If I were to pick a word to describe my writing in 2017 it would be MIRED. I could also us STUCK (as in a hole) but I prefer mired. I tried my best to salvage Maggie\u2019s Girls<\/em>\u00a0but in the end, I came to the realization that Maggie\u2019s Girls<\/em> is not the third book in the Lynton Series.<\/p>\n

I had elective surgery in September. I knew I would be stationary for at least six weeks as a result and I had planned to write, write, write. The joke was on me. Between the drugs and the aftermath of surgery, no writing took place.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201claid up\u201d as I was, I re-read the novels of the writers I view to be the best of my genre: Jo-Ann Mapson, Katrina Kittle, Barbara Samuel and Rosamunde Pilcher- the writers I love. I returned to the lives of the Wilder sisters, Penelope Keeling, Luna McGraw and Cami Anderson. All old friends waiting on my bookshelves to meet once again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Series are tricky and probably not the best place for a first-time writer to start. It is too late now and so I continue to write on. I love Maggie\u2019s Girls<\/em> and hope to publish the story as a stand-alone novel but now I have to return to the journey and work on Book Three, as promised.<\/p>\n

I flew to Ireland for Christmas. Leaving my Kindle at home, I brought two paperback books with me to read on the plane: MacCullough\u2019s Women<\/em><\/a> and Francesca\u2019s Foundlings.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Lynton Series Book One and Book Two<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a unique experience. I have read a lot books on airplanes but it was admittedly a tiny bit thrilling to sit there reading one I had written. It was also the first time I had read the books one after the other the way a reader would.<\/p>\n

Finishing Francesca\u2019s Foundlings<\/a>,<\/em> it was clear to me that Book Three will be Franny and Nick\u2019s story, even if I am not sure yet what their story will be. Most likely readers will also see more of Lilah and Dave and, of course, Brid and Neil.<\/p>\n

Signs turn up where you least expect to find them. We had a small party at the beginning of the holidays and one of my neighbors sent me a lovely thank you note.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the bottom she wrote:\u00a0\u201cLooking forward to the next sequel of MacCullough\u2019s Women<\/em><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Book Three does not yet have a name but it does have a working first line:\u00a0\u201cSo it\u2019s true. You really do play with dolls.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I leave you to wonder who it is that says that to Franny.<\/p>\n

The Muse and I wish you a Happy New Year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Muse and I<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am looking forward to the journey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.\u201d\u00a0\u2015\u00a0Ursula K. Le Guin,\u00a0The Left Hand of Darkness Two confessions to begin with: I have a writer\u2019s crush on Ursula LeGuin and I have never read her fiction (yet). I spent the weekend reading her latest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,11,10,22,17,25,1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading","category-fran-foundlings","category-mac-women","category-maggies-girls","category-the-lynton-series","category-the-muse","category-uncategorized","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1648"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1672,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions\/1672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}