Turning the Page

The Fatal Blade manuscript now sits in my editor’s inbox.  Tomorrow, it’s back to Like Stars in Heaven and the storyboarding for Howling Star until I get back a long list of things I need to fix with the third installment of Decker’s War.  I’ve slipped more humour into this one than the previous two so I’m interested to see if my editor gives me two thumbs up or a big red line through some of the dialogue.  She’s promised a fourteen day turnaround, so it looks like the end of April for the next polishing phase.

Last Thursday, the folks I worked with for over seven years held a retirement lunch in my honour.  It was a small, intimate gathering but a few people who left the organization some time ago showed up, to my immense delight, including the lovely lady who took a chance and hired me eight years ago.  She’d retired almost a year to the day before I did, so I was thrilled that she cared enough to attend.  Saying my farewells to these folks wasn’t as easy as I’d thought, but I’m glad we got together one last time.  As my former boss said, it was closure for all of us.  I hope to stay in touch with at least a few of those with whom I was closest, but based on what I’ve seen over the years, retirees tend to drift away quite fast once the bonds created by spending half our waking hours together fade into the past.

I know some of them are onto my new career, so if they’re reading this – it was an honour and a pleasure to work with all of you and if you’re in the mood to vent some work-related frustrations on a guy who understands and has the freedom of his own daily schedule, you know how to contact me.