Byline or Tree Line?

Analogy.

If writing a novel is a tree, then this is the story of trees. I guess you could say it’s my Tree Line because everything I write seems to have a line theme.

Before the millennium, I was content to gaze at other people’s orchards. I spent hours strolling through the foliage, imbibing the intoxicating scent of redwood, deciphering the spidery secrets of the cut-leaf Japanese maple, devouring the ambrosial nectar of honeysuckle. It was my shady respite, the way I pondered and escaped the everyday crush. And I loved it. I felt inspired and alive. It was my favorite pastime. But it no longer fulfilled me. I wanted my own orchard. I wanted to propagate…emulate and emancipate.

So I labored. I tilled the earth, and I carefully cut and planned the beds.

Finally, I sowed the seeds.

Since then, I’ve nurtured, watered, pruned, fertilized, and weeded.

You say you can’t see the forest for the trees?

Don’t worry.

It’s a series. It’s virtually impossible to lose your way because there is no beginning or end, just minor character reprises.

Diane L. Kowalyshyn—
daughter, wife, mother, friend, student*, high-stakes adventure** storyteller - blessed in ways too numerous to mention.
 
* completing a Masters in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University
** high-stakes adventure is all or nothing action, intrigue, intimacy and humor