Goodbye, Summer
Well, the time has come to say goodbye to summer and to prepare for
another autumn and, beyond that, another winter.
I always feel a little sad at the end of summer. Or wistful might be the
better word. There were so many plans for summer that never happened.
You know that drill. You meant to take this trip to the beach, and
something got in the way. You meant to stand in a woods and watch the
fireflies—we call them "lightning bugs" down
South— light up the night, but it never happened. You meant to go
to a baseball game and kick back with the taste of a hotdog and the
smear of mustard on your mouth, but somehow another thing seemed more
important. Maybe you meant to just lie on a hilltop and watch the clouds
move in their slow and stately progression, but somehow that didn't seem
important enough. I know all about this. It happened to me, too. I had
plans that didn't work out. Doesn't everyone? And the thing that gets in
the way? That's called "Life." Ah, well.
There's always next summer. And plenty of time to dream about what might
be, next time around.
Thank you for your comments and your readership. As always, if you
didn't read my work, I would cease to be. So thank you again for hanging
in with me, and travelling with me over the many roads.
For anyone close enough to Birmingham to make the drive, I'm going to be
speaking and reading at the Hoover Library on Tuesday, October the 5th
at 7:00. It's free, books are going to be sold there, and it's a nice
venue with a cool stage and very comfortable seats. The kicker is that
I'm going to not only talk about the Corbett series and The Five,
but I'm going to read the opening chapter of The Providence Rider
and of course talk about that book too. So if anyone can make the drive,
please drop by for the reading.
I'm going pretty well on The Providence Rider. Usually the
toughest part for me is getting everything going, and then when the
engine is started—so to speak—the machine sort of starts
running itself. Lots of characters in this one and it may be a long
book. Not sure yet. Well, okay...yes, it's going to be a long book! Let
me restate that: it will be as long as it needs to be to get the story
told. Aren't they all?
Speaking of long books, The "Ultimate" Wolf's Hour
comes in around six hundred and seventy pages, including the new
novelette. You know, I look back on some of those and wonder how I wrote
such long books. But then again, The "Ultimate" Wolf's
Hour is everything it needs to be. Story told. But story finished?
After I did The Hunter from the Woods this summer, I enjoyed it
so much that I immediately started thinking about doing more Gallatin
pieces. This really was a fun book to write, and probably the most "fun"
I've ever had doing a project. What was cool about it to me was that
instead of writing one book for nine months, here I could finish a short
story in a few days or a novelette in a week or so and then go to an
entirely different locale and plot-line. So I really did have a lot of
fun doing it, and maybe there's more Michael Gallatin in the future if
you guys like it.
Just wanted to check in briefly this time and give you an update.
Writing this in the middle of the night—of course—so I'll be
getting back to Matthew and The Providence Rider.
But before I get back to work I may walk outside to my balcony, sit down
and just listen for a few minutes.
You know, it's still warm and the crickets and the night sounds are
still out there. It's really still summer, so maybe that goodbye was a
little premature. The moon's up, the world feels calm, and in the peace
of solitude there's still plenty of time to dream.
So yes, I think I won't say goodbye to summer yet.
Not just yet.
Best Wishes,
Rick
