What has been the biggest challenge of your life?

Having a baby?

Starting a business?

Earning a PhD?

Medical school?

Law bar exam?

Winning a state/national competition in your sport?

Acing a quantum physics exam?

 

My answer, unequivocally, is writing a novel. During my golden years. All of my other life challenges that seemed so grand at the time don’t hold a candle to this one.

 

But I’m not complaining, I’m just saying…

If I’d known then (four years ago when I started this journey) what I know now…

I’d be a published novelist.

 

Ha! Maybe you thought I was going to say I wouldn’t have started this project? Definitely not so.

 

This has been a very steep, very long learning curve that has been, mostly, a joy to ride. What started as a memoir has metamorphosed into a full historical fiction novel, with strong romantic elements. I can’t count the number of rewrites I have done, but the number is big.

Ernest Hemingway said, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”

 

The late American actor Jack Lemmon said, “Anything truly worthwhile does not come easy. If it did it would not be that worthwhile.”

 

I wonder, when this book is finally published, what will I do with my free time?

Well, I suppose, write another.