I’ve been publishing my stories since 2018 and, looking back from this drafty, if not lofty perch, it’s obvious, at least to me, how much I’ve changed since then, as though I secreted my personal journey out of darkness within the twists and turns of my characters’ lives. Not only has the writing style and content altered since those early days, the themes and tone have too.
The Mangy Wolf Saga’s rumbustious humorous fantasy, involving a pushing sixty Chosen One and her tight lipped, scruffy wolf, stands as my most successful series and, at the time of writing this blog piece, I’m closing in on the release of the final book, The Last Howl, being a collection of short stories. I realise that each tall tale, filling in the gaps, highlighting the past and pointing to future generations, could have been expanded into its own novel. That course of action undoubtedly would have made financial sense for this author and, perhaps, secured a readership for the foreseeable future. However, I’m no longer the same woman who began the series and the changing me, with her morphing, unforeseeable destiny, needs to move on, possibly to a new story series, but also to other outlets for my writing. It’s time.
There comes a point when all that we learnt as we passed through the shadows should be sung in the sunlight. And so, I’m embarking on a complex project which, most likely, will take years to conceive and deliver, before handing it over to a new generation. It’s too early to paint a picture of the goal, or even to count the necessary bricks to form the building, but the excitement is rising within me, despite entering the final third of my life (if I’m blessed). I relish the notion of passing on the baton to those who come behind me, no longer fearing the inevitability of being overtaken.
One thing remains. Much like Edi, the beloved protagonist of The Mangy Wolf Saga, I may be ageing, but I’m feisty, brave enough not to give up and born to Storytell. I’m changing, but not leaving. Not yet.
Once upon a time…