Back in October 2019, I blogged about being awarded an artist residency at 100 West Corsicana, an international artist residency program in Corsicana, Texas (about an hour from Dallas). However, the residency was subsequently postponed twice, due to the pandemic. But next month, from March 4 to April 5, I will finally be doing the residency. I’m very grateful to the host organisation, Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency, for holding my program place for more than two years.
As might be expected, my goals for this residency have changed since I originally applied for it. I previously had anticipated working on either chapter 4 or chapter 5 of my novel, with chapter 5 to be the concluding chapter. Since then, I have put aside my plans to write chapter 5 (reserving it for another book, possibly a sequel to the novel) and have continued to write chapter 4, which has been exceeding all anticipated ideas of length (it’s now over 40,000 words!) and many other predictions. This chapter will now conclude the novel instead.
While on the residency, I will actually be working on the end of chapter 4 and hence the ending of the novel. The dedicated time and space that the residency offers is precious and will be of huge help, as writing the end of this novel will be a bit of a steep undertaking. Writing endings can be this way—in literature and in life at large.
