Destination vs. Journey

When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.
― Kahlil Gibrán, Sand and Foam

The end of THE END is the best place to begin THE END, because if you read THE END from the beginning of the beginning of THE END to the end of the end of THE END, you will arrive at the end.
― Lemony Snicket, The End

If I have one complaint about my Kindle, it’s that it makes it hard to skip to the end of a book. You know, how when you think you know how the story turns out and you skip to the end to see if you’re right? Oh, come on. You know you do it too.

And yes, I know that it’s probably not a problem with your Kindle, but mine is something like 10 years old (I think it’s a third generation, with the keyboard) and it works just fine as long as I don’t try to update it. Plus it has a great deal of sentimental value, so I won't be replacing it any time soon. Unless I absolutely have to.

But I digress. We were talking about skipping to the end of books. I’ve always done this – not with every book, mostly with romances to see if things work out the way I think they should. They usually do, but not always. Sometimes I just skip ahead a few chapters to see if I figured out the way things are going to unfold.

I had a writer I did editing for who was so appalled I’d do such a thing that she threatened to withhold the last chapter from me when I did work for her and I had to solemnly swear I would not skip to the end of any of her books. It was an easy promise to keep because her books were so predictable I didn’t need to skip to the end. LOL

She claimed it ruins the story if you know how it ends, but I’ve never found that to be the case. Maybe that’s why in my writing I don’t start writing a book unless I have an idea of how it’s going to end. Like the saying goes, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts.

I know there are people out there who only read a book once, and I don’t understand them at all. While there’s nothing better than a new book, I can enjoy re-reading an old favorite just as much. It’s like re-watching a favorite movie or T.V. series – you pick up details you hadn’t noticed previously and it makes the story almost like new.

Speaking of new, I started reading a new book this week. I finished Teeth by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, a refreshing take on vampire stories, and The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington, a powerful book on the holocaust. Now I’m reading Blackbird House, by Alice Hoffman. It’s not a single story, like I expected, but a series of stories about the different people who’ve lived in the title house over several generations.

Aside from blog posts, I wrote a handful of poems, four of which were to illustrate the poetry form I showcased on Friday. BUT I’m just about finished marking up my draft copy of Magickal Mayhem. I’ll easily get the last few pages finished today and then I can start making the changes to the electronic copy. And once that’s finished it’ll be sent off to my good buddy so she can tell me how much it sucks. :-)

The Week Ahead . . .

It’s October now, and you know what that means. All things pumpkin. So my spice of the week will come as no surprise to you.

Now that the edits on Magickal Mayhem are finished the pressure of getting it done so I can move on to other things is gone. Next up is An Elemental Spirit, which pretty much needs to be rewritten, not just edited.

I’m also still determined to start writing every day – a one word prompt, a flash prompt, something. Or maybe, considering last week’s post on finishing things, I can pick one of my unfinished projects and . . . finish it.

I’ll let you know how it goes.