A Series of a Season I'm Sick of

 

I’m sure I’ve mentioned on here before my desire to write a series. My first two stories were part of a series, but I didn’t get past two books in The Office After Hours. I suppose I could write another story in that series. That thought occurred to me recently.

My next series, Holiday Wishes, only had two stories in it until this past December when I finally wrote the third story for that series.

I came up with the brilliant idea to write a winter themed series. Because, you know, it’s winter.

I’m a seasonal person. I don’t know why this is, or how I became this way, or if I was just born for the seasons. When it is winter, I want to read things set in winter. I’ve read plenty of romances with winter themes during the winter months. When it’s summer, I want to read something with more of a summer theme. I’ve read Treasure Island in the summer more than once.

While I was writing Faking it at Christmas, I decided I would do a series of winter stories next. I wanted to keep the momentum going.

The only problem is, I was already sick of winter. There are a few reasons for this.

For one, we had some cold spells at the end of November and beginning of December and I was not ready for those. The other thing is, I finally lost my Covid weight and was shocked to realize how much more I notice the cold now. I had wondered the past few years why I wasn’t noticing it like I used to. Guess it was because of the extra insulation I had.

Usually, I like winter. I wouldn’t say I love it, but I like it. By the beginning of March I’m ready for spring, but usually not till then. Not this year. I was ready for winter to be over with before it even officially began.

Still, I was determined. After I published Faking it at Christmas, I started on a winter themed story. Except, like other stories I’ve started, it wasn’t going well. Plus, I had Christmas to get ready for and other things. So I threw it off to the side for the time being.

When things slowed down, I began doodling another story, and this is how Second Chance in Winter came about. More or less I was just writing and having fun and next thing I knew I had a story 90% drafted. So I kept on, even though the weather was cold and crappy and I felt cold and crappy.

When I began editing that story was when I came down with the flu. After that we had an arctic blast that lasted a week of too-damn-cold-for-me temperatures. Second Chance in Winter was meant to be part of this winter themed series I was considering. However, by the time I published that story, I no longer wanted to write about cold and snow or anything else to do with winter.

There will be no winter themed series this season.

Am I doomed to keep writing standalone tales?

Not that there is anything wrong with standalone stories. I like them. I like series. When it comes down to it, I like both.

Right now, I am working on another standalone story. After this story, I might try again to do a series. I’ve got some ideas. Ones that don’t matter about the weather or the season we are in. Which is a good thing for me at the moment, to be honest.

I’ll still write standalone stories, but I really want to dig in and write a series. I’m determined.

This has served as a lesson for me. If I’m going to write winter stories, I might want to do it before winter really sets in. Or maybe in the summer when I’m complaining that it’s too damn hot. Or if this is what I want to do, then I need to at least have an idea of the stories I’m going to write ahead of time and hope the excitement of those ideas carries me through. After all, that’s how this last Christmas story came about.

So at least one more standalone story, maybe two, then I am determined to start a series. I’ve got ideas for a couple of different series in mind, so that is progress. It is my intention to get the next story out before the end of this month. Hopefully, I don’t end up sick again or frozen solid from another winter blast, which we are to get next week. Oh joy. At least I’ve got several blankets and some extra warm cats to help keep me from freezing.