Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I’ve been writing serial stories yearly for 8 years, novels for 14, and short stories for as long as I can remember. However, in 2018, I started writing Elizabeth 4 and it broke me. I’m not sure what it was, but I just couldn’t write. I tried taking a break and writing something else and that got me a few chapters in an unfinished book.
By the time my son was born in June 2019, I had pretty much given up on the novel. It was complicated and emotional. I used plenty of excuses and spent more time daydreaming about other stories and feeling guilty.
Then the pandemic happened and everything seemed too dark.
When Dragon started school, Jen started reading, and editing, Elizabeth 4. To my surprise (because I truly thought it was crap) she loved it.
I started to painfully write it again, hoping not to break my streak of publishing a book a year.
She then asked to read A Copper Tarnish. I knew this one was good, but needed work (still needs an ending). She liked the part with two characters I’d borrowed from an old D&D game.
Several times I considered just giving up. Writing sessions that got me fifty words, but she kept encouraging me.
I had an idea for a novel starring those two characters and I told her. For what felt like a long time, but was probably a month max, I started working myself up to ask if she wanted to write it with me.
When I finally asked, she seemed enthusiastic. My writing for Elizabeth got easier.
We decided to write the book in January 2021 and talked about it for the next few months. When the time came, I put Elizabeth aside, again, and we furiously wrote a book in two and a half months.
The creativity and joy of sharing the story with her made writing seem easy. I still felt insecure about the quality of my writing, but the speed was there and at least we’d accomplished something. Now, with some distance, I’m fairly sure it’s one of the best books I’ve ever written.
Jen makes my writing better, both because of her support and because of her collaboration. There would be no Elizabeth 4 without her and it’s extremely possible there wouldn’t have been another novel by me for a while, if ever.
Thank you Jen. You are a talented, evocative, and exciting writer and I am extremely lucky and grateful to have her as a partner and a co-author. Love you!
Stay safe and be kind,
Èric