Hello, my dears! My, but it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, hasn’t it? Sorry about that. One reason I’ve been delayed is that I keep thinking I’ll write a funny little story-post with the Muse and Harry and Skipper and all the rest. Then time slips away and I don’t do it. This week I decided to give up on the grand schemes and just write something.
But don’t worry! Harry shall return.
It has been a strange, strange summer. As you may know from one of my last posts, my day job was eliminated in May, but I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to keep working at my company for a while. Subsequent events proved that the company itself was going through upheaval, and now nothing is certain.
But nothing is ever certain, is it?
Anyway, I spent a great deal of mental energy this summer dealing with the situation and trying to decide what the best way was for me to respond to it. In the midst of all that I also had to write resumes, get on LinkedIn, and do the multitudes of mundane work associated with uncertainty. It took time and energy and maybe I’ve been a wee bit anxious, which kills creativity and wrecks sleep patterns.
After stewing and stewing, I began to work out the best solution for me, which has been a great weight off my mind. It may not be your plan, it may not be a good plan, but it is a plan. Plans can’t be overestimated in my opinion.
Getting that weight off my mind bumped my writing back into high(er) gear. I’m proud to say that I kept working on my latest book through it all, but progress was slower than I wanted it to be, thanks to upheaval and stewing and resume-making. There were also some other things thrown in there for good measure–like finding out one of my cats has cancer and trying to deal with my credit reports. (The cat is doing well so far, the credit reports are frustrating).
Making a decision on how I wanted to proceed day-job-wise let me put focus back on finishing my book. I’m pleased that as of this writing I am about 85% finished with the next Hardy Falls book. Although I’m at the phase in the proceedings where I doubt everything I do, I am soldiering on. After I finish, I have to run it through a grammar program and then it will be ready to go to the editor, assuming the editor can take it (considering it’s about three months late).
The Hardy Falls novella coming after this is already written and needs to be finalized. Since it’s half the length of the book I’m working on now, and not quite as complicated, I’m hoping I’ll be able to knock it out more quickly. But I don’t want to jinx myself.
More info on the book, including title and cover, to come. Right now I’m just focused on getting the bloody thing finished.
Regarding this blog. I’ve gotten comments from people saying that they thought I had stopped writing it. That is not the case – I just got derailed for a bit. I expect there will be regular (or at least semi-regular) blog posts now that I’ve gotten going again. So much mental angst to expose to the world!
The newsletter, too, has been derailed. If you’ve signed up for it and have noticed the monthly newsletter has been conspicuously absent for the last couple of months, I do apologize. I’m going to get one out this week, and then get back on a regular routine with that as well. I’m contemplating sharing an unedited excerpt from the book I’m working on in this month’s edition, so stay tuned!
And I wanted to thank everyone for their support and good wishes and patience during this time. Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. I got a little splattered over the last couple of months, but I’m pulling myself back together. One inch at a time.
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