I'm finally putting The Woods series online. This is more or less one long story, or series of stories, that's been sitting on my drive for about two years now. I think I started it in fall of '99, if not earlier. I first thought of this as a novel, then as a loose collection of stories, rather in the style of Francesca's Nature series. I'm tired of thinking of it as a work in progress, though. Some of it feels done, like stuff I'm not going to return to. There's a lot more I wanted to do with this, but probably won't. I've lost momentum and vision.

I would never have gotten as far as I did without feedback and suggestions from Sandy H, for whom I originally began writing this, when it comes right down to it. I'm pretty sure that a few others looked at it over the years, and I'm embarrassed to say I can't even remember who, except for Shoshanna. Despite the best efforts of such people, I made relatively few changes to the thing, and hold myself responsible for all of it. I don't even know to measure its success or failure as writing, though I know that I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to with it, and that certain parts I'm just letting slide with the hope that they work, but without revision.

For anyone who doesn't read unfinished stories, I'd say that it's still possible to read what's here with a sense of partial closure (i.e., for each part). It doesn't trail off mid-sentence, at least.

Click here for the first part.
 

Anna S.
October 28, 2001