Finally! "Helen's Concerto" is finished!

Just a few minutes ago, I finished writing the final episode of the Helen Saga: Helen's Concerto!

I'm going to take all the time I need to edit this carefully, but be assured, there will be errors, and things that need to be changed, that will be fixed for the next few years, or never fixed at all.  I am a terrible  editor of my own work, but a passable editor of stuff I did not write.

I have placed an image of the cover in my last post--unless I'm much mistaken--and you can take a peek at that.

I'm very tempted to tell you a summary of the story right here, so that those who read these stories for the stories themselves will be frustrated!  Well, no, I won't; but you will be able to guess the final outcome about a quarter of the way in.

I have a very Soap Opera mentality in the way I write.  I just wallow in the dialogue (or dialog), I develop the personalities, I obsess over their motivations . . . all the things that the writers of Soaps are preoccupied with.  Of course, they're also preoccupied with such mundane things as cliffhangers, etc, etc, which I don't give two hoots about!  You probably think I should give at least half a hoot about those things, which would make the stories more interesting.  I, in contrast, simply like to present everyday life, and the interactions of the characters!  I'm incorrigibly pathetic.

In spite of all that, I think many readers--not most, I'm afraid; just many--will find the story satisfying, especially those who have found some understanding of the personality of Helen Nordstrom.  I think this last story makes the character more plausible, and her final state more acceptable.

The story has something like 126,000 words, more or less, for those of you who like statistics.  I can even give you the character count: oops, no I can't . . . I looked everywhere.  It's 300 pages, but I'm seriously considering lengthening it slightly, especially the early part, where I summarize a lot of the pertinent adventures of Helen that will probably never appear elsewhere.

Note: One of the things I have done is to show to what extent, and how, Helen's musical skills return after the amnesia.  A lot of that those who are not crazy about classical music will find boring.  Sucks to be you.    Similarly for Helen's other skills.

I also try to introduce many of Helen's friends.  I did not bring in Leila, nor Juliana, nor Gretchen; Melanie, Little John and Taylor only appear in passing.\

(Those are placeholders, in case I want to add a small paragraph or two later.  That's how I do this fancy paragraph spacing; it's a nuisance to do from scratch.

Thanks to my readers who have supported me so far!  Love,

Kay H. B.