I Found Her!

When I'm writing, like most other writers, I see the scene in my mind, unfolding like a movie. And when I'm in my magic, the film starts rolling without me and I'm the storykeeper. It's in that moment (sometimes) characters go off script and do completely unexpected things. It's really hard to explain this phenomenon, but if you know -- you know.

While writing the newsletter exclusive novel, I had a character head off somewhere and then no one could find her. She'd run away? Gotten lost? Kidnapped? I had no idea!

Sometimes things like that happen, so I just shrugged it off and kept writing, making a mental note to edit that out later, because...it was really random and didn't fit with the story at all.

BUT THEN -- they found her! And it all made sense, fitting in nicely with the rest of the story. I couldn't believe it! How? I lost a character and then found her, completely independent of my will. It was such an awesome experience, I've told three people about it already, and now I've told you.

I love writing.

Once you read the story -- please tell me what you think of her disappearance.

Did it work as well as I think it does?

YOU HAVE TO TELL ME.

Pretty please?

Progress...?

Week three of the fourth quarter...and progress is steady - but not as much as I would've wanted at this point. My time is limited and I'm at the mercy of my current circumstance in that regard. As of now, I'm constantly torn between the necessity of sleep and the necessity of getting this draft done.

Do I reallyyyy need more than six hours of sleep to function? Eh.

The story itself is coming together - okay.

I'm trying to make it as clean a draft as possible so I will have less editing to do, but at this point it seems - alright.

We'll see.

But, I am encouraged by the fact that I'm enjoying exploring these characters.

And one thing I know for sure: once I work out the kinks, these characters are going to be the highlight of the story...

Is that a good thing?

I hope so.

Working...working...working.

What was I thinking? How could I have possibly thought that it was at all achievable to work on not one, not two, but three stories in the month of September? When I have yet to get one book through to the final draft?

I guess I was so excited to get to the next part--to provide you all with some quality reading material and incredible characters to obsess about--that I slipped on my rose-colored glasses for a minute.

But, I need to be more realistic with my time. And the reality is: my current life situation makes it possible for only so much to get accomplished in a day. I need to remember that.

So--how has my plan changed? September arrived and I quickly realized...well, see above...and I switched up my plan. New plan: finish the newsletter exclusive novel by October 31st. Totally doable.

And while I really wanted to work on BOOK ONE...I simply wasn't ready. It needs to sit...and it needs A LOT of changes. And I needed positive, fast, forward momentum.

The newsletter exclusive novel is exactly what I needed--something fun, that sparks my creativity, and gets me pumped for what's to come. I'm having such a great

time writing it for you all, and I cannot wait to hear what you think of it when it's ready. One of my favorite things about it? It's exclusive and just for all of you newsletter subscribers. I love that. I love writing something as a gift to everyone who is kind enough to take a chance on me and my books.

I hope you love it as much as I do.