My devoted and observant readers. You noticed that I didn’t publish a book this year. All is well. Thank you for checking in. This year was one of many changes for my family and me, the biggest being fulfilling a five-year pursuit of our dream retirement home in southwestern Colorado.
Initially, I didn’t foresee how difficult it would be to leave behind our former home in Missouri and the accumulation of twenty-five years of memories. It was the home where we brought our daughter home from the hospital after she was born, where we hosted countless birthdays and dinner parties, and where our beloved dog, Cooper, whom we were blessed to have with us for sixteen years, would lay at my feet in his favorite sun spot while I wrote. Memories I will forever cherish.
As we began settling into our new mountain home, I realized for the first time in ten years that I didn’t have a new story in my head. I was a bit surprised, but with everything going on, I wasn’t worried. I knew in time the story would come. Meanwhile, I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a while, my first love, to pick up a book and allow my imagination to be lost in someone else’s story.
My fellow book nerds will understand the logic of this next part when I say the first thing I did, even before getting my new driver’s license, was go to the local library and acquire a library card. I immediately went to my favorite section of fiction books, ‘King, Stephen.’
While scanning the shelves, I came across the first volume of The Dark Tower books and realized I had never read them. Mind you. I am not big on Western-themed books or movies, but it was Stephen King. I had to give it a go. It took a couple of chapters to catch on to the story, but after that, I was hooked. I read through the entire seven-book series in just under five months. Partly because the books are very long (as Stephen King’s books frequently are) and because I had to wait for my holds to be fulfilled by neighboring libraries across the state.
As I finished the series, I was simultaneously frustrated and satisfied, as many of King’s stories do. Then I discovered a list, which, as it turned out, was a highlighted compilation of Stephen King’s novels that referenced The Dark Tower series in one form or another. And I thought to myself, “Of course he did. He wrote himself as a character in The Dark Tower books. Why not thread connections to the series in his other novels?” I marveled at its genius and his admission that there is a place for all his characters in Mid-World.
As you can imagine, I felt compelled to spend the rest of the year re-reading the highlighted books to find all the references to The Dark Tower series. It’s been maddening but more fun than I could have imagined! If you also enjoy reading Stephen King, I encourage you to read The Dark Tower books. I believe they are his best work, have not received the recognition they deserve, and are well worth reading.
Please forgive and indulge me in this additional quest. Once this compulsion is out of my system, I believe my imagination will be restored and ready to write again.
Many blessings to you in the upcoming year. Long days and pleasant nights.