I have a plan, I told anyone who would listen, when talking about the early days of my retirement. After 19 years of working for a series of companies, one bought by another, and rebrand after rebrand, my days in the communications/public relations/public affairs were over.

I had it all worked out. I’d work part way through the summer, have a birthday and then hang up my hat – there’d still have half the summer to enjoy. August was for sleeping, recovering from years of overwork, whether due to the job demands or simply my own workaholic tendencies. September was for playing and doing whatever my heart desired. And so, by the first of October at latest – and really, I expected it would be far earlier – I’d get down to the business of writing my third novel, a sequel to Skipping Stones. After all, I had 9,000 words on paper already, untouched since April 2024. 

What is it they say? Mortals make plans and God laughs?* 

Here we are in October, and the idea of picking up that manuscript seems quite a ways off. The retirement happened as planned – although the final party was not quite what I expected, what with the head table collapsing (I made a joke about the place falling apart before I’d even left!) and executive speeches failing to hit the true high points of my career (remember what I used to do for these folks). IYKYK!

Where did it all go wrong?

So where did the plan go off the rails? While I did expect to be walking part of the Camino do Santiago in Spain, certainly, when I fixed the date at the beginning of this year, I did not expect to also be planning a wedding (my own!), selling my suburban home – and selling it quickly – packing up and fixing to split my time between the “big city” and “lake country”. Some who’ve read my books might say it’s a case of life imitating art, but it’s easy to see why the muse hasn’t appeared yet and writing has been pushed down to the bottom of the list for a while.

But, ever the worrywart, I don’t want those skills to atrophy, so even if I’m not expanding the manuscript, I will start writing short blogs again (you can catch up with older ones here), and making intentional space to dream up new storylines, new characters, who can integrate with old favourites, and looking for the name of this next novel, which will feature some new characters, along with some favourites from Skipping Stones. And in the meantime, I’m having all kinds of amazing experiences, some of which just may end up being fictionalized at some point!

If you’ve read Skipping Stones, who’s life do you think I should focus on in a future novel?

* Note: The actual quote – If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans – is usually attributed to Woody Allen, but is also a modern riff on a Jewish proverb (We plan, God laughs).