It’s been a good run.
I didn’t know what I was doing when I first joined Medium.
I was a fiction writer, but I was disenchanted with my story-weaving abilities. I thought I’d try out non-fiction here. Immediately, I struggled to find that ever-elusive niche. All I knew was that I wanted to reach women over 50 trying to figure out how to make life changes at a time in life when it feels most difficult to change your life.
One of the things I love about Medium is it offers a unique opportunity to present yourself as an individual. It’s horrifying when something you write fails to garner any attention at all. But it’s incredibly fulfilling when something you write touches someone.
At the start of the pandemic I started dabbling with fiction, again. I had discovered a man named Louis-Benoit Zamor and his story made me do something I always swore I’d never do — I started writing historical fiction! Once I put that one toe back in those waters it was like rekindling a romance, I couldn’t stop writing!
Five years, people.
Five years of reading and research, one college-level course, one visit to Paris with two black history tours, and reaching out to countless people and places for help. And prayers. Lots of prayers.
I built a world around his character and published the first novella in September 2022. I’ve since published an additional novella, one full novel, another releasing today, and yet another to release around the end of the year.
Here’s the thing about this five-year experience.
I had forgotten that writing was my therapy until I gravitated toward it, naturally, in a time of unease and stress.
I had quit! But when I picked it up just for my own comfort, my love for it returned.
That’s kind of life, isn’t it? You learn in the doing of things, not in the thinking about doing the things. Had I thought about it, I never would have started writing fiction again. It had broken my heart, why would I want to put myself through that pain?
But writing calms my soul and the story matter touched my heart.
While I have two novellas preceding it, here’s the cover of the first book in my series about this particular man. Ain’t it purty? 🙂
In between bouts of writing I’ve been out both talking about my books and talking about “exploring my happy”, opening myself to opportunities to share about my writing and myself. I plan to do as much as I can, within reason. I do still have a full-time job after all.
This is all to say, there’s no longer a question in my mind of where I should put most of my energy. Storytelling is my love. It’s time for me to begin winding down on Medium.
Thank you to everyone who has read my work on this site. I truly appreciate and value all of you.
If you’d like to stay in touch, you can reach me one of two ways:
- I will slowly begin migrating past articles to my non-fiction site, Exploring My Happy. It’s that site from which I’ll deliver any non-fiction articles to my tribe. Please come over if you’d like, all are welcome!
- Or, I’d love to have you read my stories. I’m proud to say, my fiction works have been winning awards and influencing people! [Just kidding. I’ve been winning awards — I don’t know that I’ve influenced anyone… it just sounds good ;-).] You can find my newest fiction at my imprint site, Gilded Orange Books.
Lastly, it wasn’t just my writing that got me through the pandemic. I had the two most beautiful, sweet, precocious pomchis that ever lived. I lost my little boy pomchi, Rocky, in May 2023 and his littermate sister, Ginger, on Easter Sunday, 2024. Rocky and Ginger were a huge part of my journey.
I consider them my furry guardian angels. They got me writing again, got me through the pandemic, cuddled and curled up with me through cold winters and lounged with me on lazy afternoons in the sun when I seemed connected to my laptop.
I keep telling people I’m okay, but I guess I haven’t quite accepted that they’re gone yet because I keep putting their pictures in my posts, newsletters, etc. So, it seems only fitting that I take one last chance to show them off in this post because … well, just look at them. I miss these little rugrats.
On that note I’ll wrap this up.
Thank you, Medium! Thank you, readers! I might lurk. Though I never like to say never I don’t plan to write any more articles. Goodbye and I hope we’ll meet again :-).
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to walk off into the sunset… 🙂 (P.S. That photo is not me).
Patti Flinn is an author of historical, romance, and suspense fiction. She was winner of the Romance Writers Ink Award for Romantic Comedy, winner of the Independent Book Publishing Award for fiction-ebook, was a finalist for the Phillis Wheatley Award for Fiction, and was an honorable mention as 2023 Shelf Unbound Notable Indie.
Patti lives in Central Ohio and enjoys listening to smooth jazz, baking, and collecting antique cookbooks. She can be reached at ExploringMyHappy.com (non-fiction), GildedOrangeBooks.com (fiction), and BooksbyAva.com (romance).
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