What will happen to Callie Mac?

 

Folders I kept.

The last few days I've been steeped in novels I wrote over eleven years ago. I'd been listening to the playlist connected to these stories, and well.... Pulling up 2007-2013 in the books not currently under construction folder, I clicked on Forever of One Heart Part 1, scrolled through the manuscript, then began to read. I didn't read anything else until I reached the end of Part 2, which happened last night. Then I went to bed.

After breakfast this morning I got dressed, wearing warm-ish clothes because we're actually receiving rain today. Then I breathed deeply, and from the closet I retrieved a box where I store notes from previous books. The big question was if I had purged the folder for Forever of One Heart a few years back when I did a massive clear-out of that box and another, fully aware I didn't need to keep information for drafts I had no plan to revise and release. Apparently Forever fell into that category, because to my chagrin, no folder with that title waits in the box.

Huh. Hmmm. Fascinating, spoken in a flat Mr. Spock tone. Yet, the stories remain, tucked safely in my computer, laptop, and several flash drives. Other drafts do too, but this one tickled my fancy, and to my surprise, was in decent shape despite not having been edited. I wrote it a few months before I started The Hawk, which signifies that by spring of 2013, I kinda knew what I was doing prose-wise.

Yet, the story isn't complete, a cliffhanger at the end of Book 2 in desperate need of resolution. So: Will there be a Book 3? What is going to happen to Callie Lathrop and Evan McCandliss? He calls her Callie Mac, high school sweethearts with one break-up in their past, but far more waits under the surface. Evan struggles with gender dysphoria, while Callie's parents are fundamentalist Christians. Evan's family are Christian too, liberal Lutherans. Faith is as relevant in this tale as gender dysphoria, set in 1989. Yeah, lots going on in these novels.

If asked at this moment would I write a third book.... Past Me shudders; she's stuck in the middle of crafting The Hawk, praying for strength to conclude that behemoth. Future Me smiles, but gives no indication of counsel. That leaves Present Me with much to consider. Currently I'm revising the seventh book of The Hawk, three left to go. Then there's the fifth installment to write of my current series, as well as prep the second book for release. Where in the world am I supposed to fit in writing/revising yet another series???

And will I weed these poor amaryllises?

But that's not the real query. Because it's not about how or when, but to merely close my eyes and pray. Or leave eyes open and pray. But prayer comes first about the writing, sewing, lack of gardening, ahem. I write books that contain elements of faith because I have faith and it's through that faith I manage anything at all. Or I don't get around to it, in the case of my poor iris bed and amaryllises. The Naked Ladies, as amaryllises are colloquially called around here, are usually well weeded before they emerge, however ours are cloaked in dead foliage and aggressive blackberry vines. If I can't get to clearing that mess, how in the heck am I supposed to....

"Stop right there," Future Me huffs. "It's not about you."

I grimace, then nod. "I know that but...."

"No buts," she smirks. "Exactly how have you written all those books, huh?"

"Not in my own strength," I softly say.

"No shit," she glowers.

"Hey, watch the language," Past Me interjects.

I smile while Future Me smirks again. "Yeah, okay," she grunts to Past Me. Then to Present Me she shoots a wicked grin. "As for you, don't worry about it now. There's laundry to do and two chapters of The Hawk to read and...."

"What, why's she reading The Hawk?" Past Me blurts. "Oh my goodness, don't tell me you actually finished it!"

Future Me squirms. "Uh, well, maybe," she says, coughing hard.

Meanwhile Present Me again breathes deeply, aware at the very least what will happen to Callie Mac isn't what I had originally envisioned over a decade ago, if only because those notes are long gone. If Callie and Evan's world goes anywhere, it's through the eyes of who I have become in the last eleven years, both as a person and author (and quilter and mediocre gardener, lol). Which doesn't really answer today's title, but fleshes out me a little more as well as giving myself perhaps one more thing to do....