Big Red, Sweet Orange, and Suitcases by Liz Flaherty

We call them Big Red and Sweet Orange. My daughter-in-law Tahne gave me Sweet Orange years ago and she's been with me in some airports (no one else had an orange suitcase) and traveled with me to more states than I can remember. I take her with me for an overnight or for a week--she fills the bill every time.

Big Red belongs to Nan. She's not real big, but I'm here to tell you, she's heavy. I'm not sure what Nan packs in her, but I was thinking of calling her son and daughter-in-law to find out if Grandboy had come up missing.

Then there's Suitcases, Margie's WIP, about Anna and unrealized dreams. I've read enough to make my heart ache. I'm hoping Anna reveals more of her story here in this mountaintop place of beauty and creation.

We're on a writing trip on a mountain in North Carolina. It is so beautiful here. We can see Mt. Mitchell from the deck. We just got here today, so Margie, Nan, and I are pretty tired. Janie has made us so welcome!

But...back to Big Red, Suitcases, and Sweet Orange.

There is so much about luggage that has to do with writing, isn't there? In the first place, you don't choose your protagonists--they choose you, and they bring all their luggage along with them. They leave it to you to how to unpack it, press it, and re-pack it so that it fits and has room for the unexpected to slide in around the edges. 

In the second place, it gets messy and doesn't always age well. Sweet Orange isn't nearly so bright and hardy as when she was new, and as her zippers get a little iffy, I can see a change down the road. That happens with books, too, doesn't it. We've all heard that historicals are dead, zombies are passé, and nobody likes a book without love scenes--or with them, for that matter. It all depends on what reader is mad at you for writing the Wrong Thing. Cultures change and things that were acceptable and the norm decades ago are anything but today. Although the zippers could be torn out of Sweet Orange and new ones sewn in their place, she might not close as smoothly and she'd probably look funny because the new and the old don't always play well together. 

But,  you know, if you add some new in with the old, things will still pack. Maybe not as neatly as you'd like, But you'll be able to travel new places, learn new things, and write new books. Like Suitcases.

But you still won't please everybody. The zipper still won't match. Not everyone will like Anna or her story. So just keep adding new, packing carefully. And telling your story the best you can.