In the end

All around the blogosphere the talk has been about balance and burnout, slowing down, pushing through, stepping up, stepping back, going dark and unplugging, and all the various points of passage on our journey through real life as well as writers. Not spoken of as much as these points of place, is that almost mythological point in the journey known affectionately as the end. So in the spirit of Lilah’s Last Lines Blogfest coming up, I thought I’d share a post by Joe Moore over at The Kill Zone about endings. Check it out and let me know how you feel about endings.

What are your favorite kind? What do you hate? As a reader? As a writer? How do you feel when you get to the end of the piece you’re writing? Elated? Sad? Scared? Thinking of revision or the next project?

Pick a spot, any spot

Based on some discussion we've been having and a post here I've been wondering: Which is worse?

Starting a piece where you are making all those decisions about tone and voice and characterization and theme and setting and trying to figure out how and where all those elements will intersect to produce exactly what's in your head screaming to get out?

Or is it the muddle in the middle, which seems to be a never-ending slog where all the decisions you made in that beginning rush of excitement and enthusiasm are being chucked out the nearest window with frightening regularity as you realize nothing is working for you or the story at all.

Or is it the mad dash to the finish line where you are simply too exhausted and bereft of time and/or thought to do anything but scribble the end even though you're pretty sure that's not the way you saw it and are wondering why, given the cost of it all, you ever thought this was a good idea.

And at what point is enough enough? At this point I'm really not sure. How about you?