In every moment of life, there are endings and beginning–breaths, heartbeats, seconds ticking on a clock. But sometimes in life, there are bigger endings and beginnings. On a human scale, the largest of these are birth and death, of course, but within each life are the moments we use to mark the trail. Graduations, relationships, changing roles in family life. Growing up, growing older.

I had a few of those landmarks recently. In April I mailed off Bone Temple, after an intensive effort to revise based on feedback from both Martha Mihalick’s critique from the RMC-SCBWI Fall 2007 conference, and the Wild Folk of the West. Getting it off my desk felt like a completion, though indeed I hoped it wasn’t really an ending, but a beginning of a new relationship with an editor. What every writer hopes for, of course.

In May, I finished the requirements for my Certificate from The Marin Institute for Projective Dreamwork. Certainly an ending and a beginning rolled into one. I framed the certificate and displayed it in my newly-rented office space, glad to have its company as I led dream exploration workshops. Also in May, I mailed off a short story, hoping for some success to mark my path. And, the biggest ending and beginning, by which I see my life divided into two–I gave up eating wheat and gluten, and achieved unexpected health.

I rested, for a couple of weeks, in the uncertainty of what to expect next. Well, rested isn’t exactly the word. I kept busy with all the usual duties of home and work, took a trip to Crested Butte and then to South Carolina, planted and weeded in the garden, tended the elderly cat, hosted several gatherings of family and friends, and generally stayed busy.

Then the beginnings started arriving. Further suggestions for revision from Martha. My short story accepted. A new computer. New ideas. More ideas than I can contain, during a time (summer) when my duties as mom trump my usual work time. Yet even that has a new beginning, as I explained to my kids that I needed some uninterrupted writing time during the day. They understood, and have been honoring my request.

And so, back to the new rewrite: another time through the novel weaving in more elements, deepening my own understanding of the full implications of the story. I faced it at first with some reluctance, but now the ideas are flowing and the process is fun again. Hang on, it’s the beginning of another ride.