Saying Goodbye is Hard To Do.

By  Marilyn Meredith, guest blogger

In this case, it’s saying goodbye to two whole sets of characters who’ve been living in my head for many years. First it was the all the police officers and their families who live in the beach town of Rocky Bluff, as well as many of their citizens. This is the first series I wrote and the first published. Reversal of Fortune is number 17, and the last one. I am going to miss the Rocky Bluff P.D.  (I wrote this series using the author name F. M. Meredith.)

When I moved to Springville, I learned we lived near the Tule River Indian Reservation and I became friends with a Native woman who grew up on the rez. I love the little town where I now live and incorporated a lot of my surroundings in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. I’m certainly going to miss Tempe and her husband, Hutch, a pastor, and their good friend, Nick Two John. The latest book is #20,

The hardest part is that I know all these people so well—even knowing how they think, and how each one will act in any situation. In many ways, it’s like losing good friends.

I’ve been asked several questions about this decision. Was I tired of the characters and the settings? Absolutely not. I loved the folks who lived in Rocky Bluff, especially the men and women of the RBPD. The beach community of Rocky Bluff only existed in my imagination, but reflected much of the area where I once lived and other small towns along the coast.

Those who lived in Bear Creek and the surrounding area are near and dear to me since I live in the community that inspired it, with some minor changes. I’ve used much of what is here in many different books in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series: the small river that sometimes floods as it did this year, the Inn as it was in earlier years, and the surrounding mountains. I’m staying where I am, but Tempe and Hutch are moving on.

Another question was had I run out of ideas? No, that wasn’t the problem. With the Rocky Bluff series policing is changing so fast, I didn’t think I was able to keep up with the changes. With the Tempe Crabtree series, I knew in my heart it was time—20 books was enough

So what will I do now? I have another cook book on the back burner—this one with camping recipes. I plan to update one I wrote when I was a Camp Fire Girl leader and we went on many camping trips.

I’m also planning to write either a young adult mystery series set during World War II in Los Angeles, or a memoir. Haven’t really decided yet. My childhood and early teen years were during that period. I have lots of memories during a time that was much different than now.

Like the characters in my books, my life has made some major changes and I am changing along with them.

Marilyn Meredith aka F.M. Meredith

Visit me at http://fictionforyou.com/  

Blog: https://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

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Marilyn’s article was posted by member, Jackie Houchin

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Author: Jackie Houchin

First, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, so my views and opinions are filtered through what God's Word says and I believe. I'm a wife, a mom, a grandma and now a great grandma. I write articles and reviews, and I dabble in short fiction. I enjoy living near the ocean, doing gardening (for beauty and food) and traveling - in other countries, if possible. My heart is for Christian missions, and I'm compiling a collections of Missionary Kids' stories to publish. (I also like kittens and cats and reading mysteries.)

18 thoughts on “Saying Goodbye is Hard To Do.”

  1. Marilyn, such a wonderful piece . Thank you for bringing us into your world for a while. Your creations will be with you forever, like old friends. Good luck with your new endeavors.

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  2. Your characters will always be in those books, so they aren’t gone for good. And giving them such a great place to live will remain in your reader’s minds and hearts as well. As for writing a memoir, I wrote mine in a book called A Scrapbook Life last year since I have over 40 scrapbooks with many of the memories that I collected over my 75 years of life in them. Hearing some of your stories through the years sounds like a great basis for your own book. And as I tell folks I meet, we all have a story to tell. Some of us just manage to write it down. It will be interesting to see what you do next.

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  3. I empathize with leaving favorite characters, but fortunately new ones seem to make sure I understand they’re my friends too. Thanks for visiting us, Marilyn, and for such an emotion-inspiring post.

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  4. It has to be sad ending a series, but I think your writing thoughts and fingers will just keep on going with new things (that YA mystery sounds great, also a memoir). Many blessings as you live and write until you are at least 100!

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  7. As you know, I sure will miss Tempe…but definitely looking forward to what’s next from you! LA during WWII, now that sounds interesting…

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  8. Marilyn, I echo what my fellow bloggers here have said: your characters will live on in the printed pages. Readers to come will discover and enjoy their stories. But it is an emotional mixed blessing when you ‘put them aside’ and focus on new stories. I love the memoir-based ideas. We have a wealth of memories and characters tucked away in our amazing brains!!

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  9. Marilyn, WWII-LA and/or memoir sound like rewarding projects. I agree with the others that your characters will live on. I wish you all the best going forward.

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  10. What a wonderful post! And what a big decision to let characters go but yes, I echo everyone’s comments here too. They never really leave us do they? Saying goodbye does give space to welcome in new characters too – sometimes there just isn’t enough space for all of them! I love the idea of your Camp Fire series –and of course, I’m intrigued by the idea of your memoir too. Thanks for being our guest – it’s given me a lot to think about!

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