Sweet Abandon

Some wise person said a poem is never finished, only abandoned. I think the same is true of any creative work.
And so at 5:30 am yesterday, December 31, I abandoned my newest novel, and sent a copy of it to my agent. (The novel begins in an abbey, hence the photo.)

Not a bad way to end a year. Exactly a year and a day earlier, I’d moved in with my fiance (this is my excuse for why the new novel, barely half the length of The Fool’s Tale, took 10 months longer to write than I’d anticipated).

2007 was good to me (except for the part where Kurt Vonnegut died). I thank it for being so, and I hope that as it stepped aside last night, it nudged 2008 in the ribs, winked in the general direction of Mother Earth and all her children, and said, “The boss says be nice to them.” (I don’t actually believe in a boss, but then, I don’t really believe 2008 has ribs, either. I still like the image. It soothes me.)