THE END by Susan Sands

I've been writing a story for almost seven months. Finally, after much research, and a gazillion hours

When the DNA is strong

of putting in the hard work, I finished the manuscript. My husband asked if I was feeling celebratory. My response was a blank stare. 

After I type the best two words (THE END), My brain goes hard into overdrive. Did I forget something or someone? Did I tie things up? Did I drop something I started along the way? Did someone have a cat and I never mention it again? That's before I dive deep into the editing. Then there's the timeline. Days, months, years. Did I stick with the continuity of it all?

That's when I ask some folks to read it with fresh eyes and give it to me straight. I can't do it alone. I don't trust myself after rolling around in the words for so long. Plus, there are multiple points of view, which makes it even more complicated. Every scene from each POV has to match up the next time I'm in their head. Pardon my brain fog...

But I'm excited about the story--or I will be once it's all cleaned up. 

It's a story of a woman who gets a DNA test as a gift instead of her expected engagement ring. Predictably, for a great story, the results aren't as expected. Not only does she figure out that she was adopted at birth, a minor detail her loving parents never found the right time to tell her, but she's got a sister who shows up on her "connections" profile. This leads her to her birth mother, who doesn't want her to know who her birth father is except to say, "He's a bad man."

But as fate and fiction would have it, she gets an alert on her profile soon after that she has another connection. A brother on her birth father's side. Now, there's a whole new branch on the family tree; one that's far more complicated. 

This is a story about family; the old, the new, and finding out that some things, as unwelcome as they seem, can complicate and enrich one's life in equal measure. 

Set in the Low Country around the Sea Islands.

Let me just say that researching unexpected DNA results was fascinating. I spoke to several people who'd found out they had siblings and parents who were different than they'd believed. One woman in Florida found four sisters she knew nothing about. Her father had impregnated women throughout the state. They expect to find more matches. 

I haven't done a DNA test personally, but I look so much like both my parents that I wouldn't expect any surprises, but I might do one for the sake of genealogy.

How about you? Do you have a good DNA story?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! 

Susan Sands

Making Progress--Finally! Susan Sands

Hello, friends! Fall has finally begun to tiptoe its way into the South, Georgia specifically. I'm finally making some real progress in finishing my novel in progress. The past year has proved to be one that put a rope around my waist and pulled and tugged me back every time I tried to make headway or forward progress with my writing. No longer.

I plan to finish my new book within the month and hope it is in keeping with what my agent has in mind for this story. Obviously there will be editing and some rewriting, but typing the words, THE END, will be a personal victory for me with this novel.

Written in first person, this story is far different from anything I've attempted before. I'm excited to see what becomes of it. I'm not turning my back on what I love though, which is Southern women's fiction, and have plans for more stories that fall within a similar vein of my Alabama books to follow.

I hope everyone is enjoying the somewhat cooler weather and looking toward the holidays with anticipation of family get togethers and lots of stuffing, no matter where you are.

I plan to spend Thanksgiving on Lake Burton up in the North Georgia mountains with my family and in-laws. There is no more beautiful place on earth to me in the Fall.

The photo to the right was taken last year near the boat dock after a rain. Notice the amazing rainbow.

Happy reading and writing to everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Susan Sands

Jennifer Gracen: The End

Earlier this week, I typed the two most wonderful, satisfying words a writer can write: THE END. I finished another book. But this one was a bittersweet accomplishment, because it’s the last book of the series I’ve been writing for a while. I started this series in 2013; that’s how long I’ve been living with the characters of the Harrison family.

I know the Harrisons as well as I know my real life friends—nope, scratch that. I know them even better. I know what makes them tick, what makes them flinch, what makes them burn. They’ve lived out the most important moments of their lives in my head for years now. I’ve loved writing their stories, and I’ll miss having them around.

Yes, I’m talking about my characters like they’re real people. To me, they are.

Which is why it’s so strange and bittersweet to now have to leave them behind.

The morning after I’d finished the series, I sat with a cup of coffee and stared out the window for a while, feeling oddly displaced. I realized it’s the same kind of feeling a reader experiences when they finish reading a series they’ve loved. Having to leave that world behind, knowing the story is over... it’s a sweet sense of loss, in the best possible way. Sometimes you can’t even start reading a new book for a few days, because your head is still in that world, with those characters, and you’re not ready to let it go just yet. Right? Well, that’s how I’ve felt for the past few days.

But today, I woke up ready to jump into a new world. To start a new series with new characters. Ready to stretch my writing wings and soar... just like when you leave your family behind to go out into the world. The Harrisons will always hold a special place in my heart, but I’m ready to start something fresh and new, and I’m excited to meet the next batch of new characters that will take up space in my head.