Wrapping Up Writing

Year-end is a good time for wrapping up writing and more. With holiday celebrations in full swing, there’s too much going on to concentrate on finishing a work-in-progress, or starting a new one. I find writing breaks useful, a time for reflection. My thoughts about story never stop, but while Christmas carols are being sung on the radio, I also reflect on the promise of peace this season brings.

Almost two years ago, I was in the midst of finishing the third book of my Ukrainian family saga trilogy, based on my baba and mother’s life in Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Canada, when Russia invaded Ukraine, a sovereign and independent nation. Sadly, Russia continues to pummel Ukraine from the skies and on the ground. The conflict between Russians and Ukrainians is an old one. It shows up in my historical fiction, set during WWI, the civil wars that followed, and the early years of WWII.

My article, On Writing a Ukrainian Family Saga at This Time, appears in the December issue of “Historical Times”, It’s a fabulous maganzine put out by the Historical Fiction Company in America. This issue covers many different wars, and even a lesson on how to end them.

On the Back Burner

After I finished writing Lukia’s Family Saga, I wrote a collection of short stories. Currently, I have my manuscript out at three Canadian publishers. It’s frustrating having to wait to hear back. One publisher states they need a year to make their decision. I plan to contact each one in the new year. If there’s no interest, or further delay, I will take steps to find a good editor and begin the process of self-publishing them myself. Time is precious, and, being in my senior years, I can’t wait too long. The theme of these stories centers on life in a rooming house, those of the landlady and her family’s and the tenants above.

I was born in a rooming house, and lived in one until I got married at nineteen. My stories are fictional, but what I experienced growing up in those houses found their way into my writing. Below is the rooming house in Winnipeg, featured at the end of Paper Roses on Stony Mountain. The same house and others show up in my short story collection, which I hope will be published in 2024.

Along Came A Gardener, a Work in Progress

I continue to work on Along Came A Gardener, a non-fiction book inspired by my work as a psychotherapist. For whatever reason, I haven’t made it a priority until now.

As a family, couples, and individual therapist, I encountered people from all walks of life seeking help for their emotional problems. After I graduated with my Master of Social Work, I began working as a clinical social worker on a psychiatric ward at the Winnipeg General Hospital. Because I had been trained as a family therapist, I met with troubled patients and their families alone or with a psychiatric intern as my co-therapist. Afterwards, I worked in a variety of clinical settings.

In my 25 years of clinical practice, I met with the wealthy and the down and the out, the educated and the uneducated, the professionals and the working class, and those with varying sexual orientation, faith, and ethnic backgrounds.

In Along Came A Gardener, I hope to weave the lessons from those years with the lessons I’ve gleaned from gardening. Nature is an incredible instructor. If you’ve signed up for my Book News, you would have received the first chapter and in my recent newsletter, the introduction as well.

Needing Your Opinion

I have a tentative book cover design for Along Came A Gardener. I would love your opinion on it. Does it work to convey what I’m hoping to write? Is it inviting? Is it too busy? Does it promise to deliver what’s expressed in the blurb on the cover?

Glad Tidings!

I pray for peace and good will among people in Ukraine and the Middle East, and wherever there’s strife. I also pray for progress and understanding among our world leaders when it comes to climate action. Together, we can make a difference.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or other seasonal event, Robert and I wish you and your loved ones a joyous holiday, and all the best in 2024!

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