You never know where life will take you, but here I am just outside Portland, Oregon, at the Cascade Christian Writers Conference. I get to hang out with my literary agent Rachelle Gardner, and my roommate is the esteemed author James Rubart. What a great weekend.
I’m also realizing that this particular chapter, as long as it is, requires more than a few days’ work, so I’m going to take another week before posting the revised version of Chapter Two. Stay tuned. We’ll get that Old Woman sorted out yet.
As Maile and I shared on one of our recent podcasts, I’m at a real crossroads in my writing life, pitching a new genre of novel to publishers, wondering if it will find a home. When I began my life as a writer, I never thought to consider this particular place in the journey—in our imaginations, it’s usually just one victory after another, right? Upward and onward, each success building on the one before that…
Hmmm. Life doesn’t always work out that way. There are more in-between spaces than we care to imagine. More sadness. More uncertainty. Less clarity.
But it’s good to be here in the green forests and hills of Oregon, with the snow-capped mountains off in the distance. It’s good to be with other writers.
Thanks for following along with me on this story-telling life. I’ll have another chapter for you soon.
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It’s all good, Shawn. Hang in there!