Final Edits are Rolling In!

When it rains, it pours. I say this as if I know. I live in sunny, southern California -- and we all know it rarely, if ever, rains here.

At any rate, I have that rainy day feeling. The high, thin, gray clouds are rolling in ahead of the so-called storm that's been forecast for our area. AND, if that isn't enough of a hint, this week saw both of my current manuscripts (MS#1 - All or Nothing, and MS#2 - By Another Name) were returned to me for my final touches. Raining. Pouring. Both due by early December. And Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner!

GULP. This means, hands off! only make a change if it's ABSOLUTELY necessary. The pages are basically laid out. All or Nothing looks like a book. It FEELS like a book. By Another Name reads beautifully, if I do say so myself. I'm like a proud mama, seeing my babies come of age. They're almost ready to meet society. And that's going to leave me without a full length project.

Uh-Oh.

I've started and stopped Castles by the Sea about 89 times. I bailed out of NaNoWriMo this year. I just didn't have the energy, even though I did have the time. Now, I need to find a new focus. A new place to throw my energy, my spirit, and my heart. I prayed for inspiration, and now I have it falling out of my ears. In a conversation with my editor. In a song. In a child's tale. In a verse from the Bible - Romans 12:12. And, of course, in seeing the Twilight revolution, and knowing that there must be something better to offer teenage girls than that. Not that it isn't great that kids are reading. But... AND I can't really say, as I haven't read the stories yet myself. But does it leave them edified? better kids for having read such a story? maybe. After all, it's a love story, and what's better than that?

Again, there is much to be plotted and planned. But, again, I have time. Hopefully, about the time All or Nothing goes to print, my next novel will be starting its journey to publication. I'm blessed to have an opportunity to write, a publisher who believes in me, and the heart to pour out onto paper.

Someone once told me that if I published a book, he'd buy me a ranch of my own. Soul ties are powerful things. We went down different paths, and if the ranch is in my future, the good Lord will keep whispering great stories in my ears. I just thank you all for reading, for believing in me, and the best -- I pray -- is still yet to come.