The End?

What do you think when you see this picture? 

Is this a sign made of plane debris from survivors on the television series LOST?  Have Gilligan and the Skipper, with the help of Mary Ann and the Professor, of course, prepared an arial message to help search planes locate the Minnow?  Or has Elizabeth Swann burned the last bottle of rum, leaving Captain Jack Sparrow on a tiny island with a gun 'with one bullet that isn't meant for you' and no sustenance?

 Whichever story you conceive, you've chosen the version you'd believe, the one you'd like to write or see written.

I'm finishing up a book I really love, my first contemporary romance, a Harlequin Presents.  I'm on the downhill slope.  Yay!  But as much as I want to revel in this, my greatest writing achievement to date, I'm already trying to come up with that next BIG story idea.  You know the one!  It calls when you're not ready and sways you from your purpose, finishing the book you're writing.

The catch is, I'm not having that problem this time.  Oh, I have historical books plotted, but right now I'm waiting patiently for news on a nibble.  And while I wait, if this contemporary writing gig goes well, I'll have my jets raring to go on another project.

Beginnings are wonderful, aren't they?  You're free to choose from among character names, settings, time eras, genres, etc..., until everything falls into place.  Plots evolve/thicken, characters protest and flesh each other out until they inhabit the very pages created, the ones readers love.  In a perfect world, or book, the writing flows, revisions go well and editing is minor.  And so when the writer types The End, that same writer hopes he/she will get The Call in good time.

Aha!  Here's where I see the question mark in this photo.  Is typing The End really the end?

Life is full of twists and turns.  No one can predict a storm or challenge on the path.  A deer can leap out across the road at any time, derailing your progress.  Be it rejections, lengthy submission waits, doubts, revisions, edits, galleys, copy-edits, bad health... the list goes on, depending upon your rung on the ladder.

After the tornados that hit our area last week, I've come face to face with one realization.  Beginnings and endings are just that, stepping stones to the next beginning and ending.  How we step out in faith defines our path.

When have you faced The End but found it wasn't really the end?  And what new beginnings are you looking forward to in the next few months?