I’m often asked when my book will be finished – the novel I’ve been working on for four or five years now. “Who knows?” I shrug and sigh. It’s become a journey unto itself.
It’s not that I don’t want it to end, for I know the last scene. My friend Roger Rapp laid it out for me during a dinner conversation a few years ago. He said John Irving always writes the last paragraph first, then writes toward it as if it were a piece of music he could hear.
Roger, who understood the underlying theme of my story, looked me in the eye and told me what the last paragraph of “The Desk” would be. I remember the goose bumps. He was absolutely right on. Roger died suddenly the next month, but his gift of the ending will endure.
(Note: “The Desk” was the former working title for “Heart Wood” before 2020)
© All materials copyright Shirley DicKard, 2012 – 2013, except as otherwise noted.
Shirley DicKard 
What a wonderful memory of himself he gave to you…………….
So, so true.
Of course that gave me the chills, knowing you both for so many years. Like many other artistic endeavors, it will be finished when you know you are through.
Thanks. As they say, trust the process.