Stockings filled with coal
When you get to be my age, it’s amazing what an almost fourteen hour trip to Virginia, in steady rain, in a rental car with tires in need of replacement, with GPS directions that you find out are not taking you the way you think you are going until it’s too late to change direction, can do to you the next day. And I was only the passenger. The driver started the trip at six a.m. getting thrown to the ground after being hit in the head by the garage door on its downward trajectory. I think you may get the picture why this post will be short and disjointed!
The good news is we made it to Virginia safe and sound, our suitcases already unpacked and clothes hung in the closets with care, the driver still lively and quick. The last leg of our journey to Arizona will be by sleigh, er, airplane, that is.
I survived, and won, NaNoWriMo, with time to spare but not a creative thought lurking anywhere. I’ve printed my 2014 and 2015 winning submissions and lugged them with my original printed book (“Anne”) with a plan to ignore the Arizona sunshine this winter and return home with a completed draft comprised of an amalgamation of all three novels. We shall see…
Over a year ago I wrote a short story that

Christmas at the Omni Mount Washington Resort
partially is set in my daughter’s house in Virginia. (You may recall the experiment with the weed whacker string.) Another unfinished work. As I walked into her garage last night, after the exhausting trip from New Hampshire, the story engulfed me, reminding me of characters and story lines left hanging, like stockings hung on the mantle filled with coal. They deserve better than that. I just may finish that story this trip.
And Santa just may bring me everything on my list.
Posted on December 18, 2015, in blogging, Karen Whalen, NaNoWriMo, Uncategorized, writing and tagged Arizona, blogging, Virginia, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
Ditto: Merry Christmas! Enjoy your stay in Va.
I’m wincing in sympathy with the ‘driver’. What a way to start the day, not to mention the trip.
I’d love to see the Va. story finished to your satisfaction. Why do these things take so long??
Safe travels.
LikeLike
If I could decide on an ending–and a middle and beginning–I could probably finish the VA story. Think I’ll just pick one of each and hope they fit together!! Never have been good at making up my mind…The driver is recuperating. The dogs are giving him lots of love! Merry Christmas to you, too!
LikeLike
Santa loves a willing worker! He is going to bring you twelve publishers bidding. You deserve it. Merry Christmas!
LikeLike
Aha! You’ve hit the nail on the head. “Willing” and “working” is not something I’m into at the moment. He’s more apt to bring you the twelve publishers than me–and before I return this spring, he will deliver them to you with a jolly “Ho, ho, ho.” Merry Christmas and thanks so much for hosting our Christmas party!
LikeLike