"In the End, Timing Is Everything" by Nick Sipe

 – the last time I saw her alive, truly alive

I was with her, holding her hand, stroking her hair.

Nick Sipe lives in Gastonia, North Carolina, with his alpha reader wife and 2 beta reader kids. He is a member of the Charlotte Writers Club and NC Writers’ Network. He enjoys the giddy thrill of sneaking into college libraries to write while his kids are at sports practice. Currently, Nick is querying literary agents for his debut novel, Midnight Springs, a horror Western best described as Frankenstein Goes West.

Author’s Talk

Nick Sipe

Writing is powerful. It can create new worlds or burn them down. I discovered this in mid-80’s when I was in the third grade. My tiny, rural North Carolina elementary school started a pen pal letter writing program with a sister school in Spain. Having only travelled as far as Myrtle Beach at the time, I was thrilled to meet someone from another country, nay, another continent! I just knew we’d become fast friends. I was even more excited when I found out my pen pal was Maria, a Spanish girl my own age. I pictured that someday we’d tell guests at our wedding of how we met as pen pals, falling in love through the power of the written word. 

I wrote her two enthusiastic letters. Told her everything about myself, about my family, about my soul. To really seal the deal, I also included drawings of Garfield, which I was truly fantastic at drawing in those days. You can imagine my horror when after two letters, I didn’t hear from her again. When the teacher opened the next package of bundled letters, I asked why there was no letter from Maria. In front of the class, the teacher discovered a note and read it aloud, “Maria does not want to be pen pals with him anymore.” 

My imaginary world of international romance burned down that day. But a phoenix rose from those ashes. I became determined to be a better writer. I got a perfect score on the 4th grade writing test. I wrote letters to my favorite Atlanta Braves players, asking for autographs. (It worked!) I wrote and illustrated my own comics. I wrote letters to Marvel Comics to tell them how much I liked their comics.  

Later, I learned not just to write a lot, but to read a lot. The only other person in my family that shared a love for books was my Aunt Sis from my story, “In the End, Timing Is Everything.” When I told my aunt that I was writing a novel, she was overjoyed. She asked again and again when she could read it. “It’s almost finished. Soon,” I said.  

I was three-quarters finished with the first draft when she passed away. I have never stopped regretting that I didn’t share the partial manuscript with her. Getting this story published, feels like I’m closer to setting things right.—Nick Sipe