How does time go by so quickly? It's been almost a year since I last blogged. So, I suppose, it's time for an update.
My year has been eventful and uneventful at the same time. Life is settled into a quiet hum of activity.
I have spent much of this year working on what I have been calling my Manuscript from Hell. After rejections on two YA books, I went back to a book I started in 2009, right after NAL dropped my Annie Seymour series and right before they contracted me for the tattoo shop mysteries. This book is totally different than anything I've ever done before. It's not a traditional mystery, but more a suspense thriller about a fugitive who has been missing for 15 years and how her past finally catches up to her. It is about love and betrayal and no matter how hard you try to change, deep down it might not be possible. I have called it my Manuscript from Hell because it has challenged me in a way that no other book has. I have stepped far out of my comfort zone and developed a character and a voice that my readers might not find familiar but I hope will resonate with them. Although first it needs to resonate with an editor somewhere!
When I haven't been writing, I've been reading a lot. Mostly crime fiction, but I got two Tudor England books for Christmas that I need to start dipping into. My daughter is in her junior year of high school, and the college search
and visits have begun. It reminds me of when I was looking at schools. I
remember walking onto the Roanoke College campus and thinking, This is
where I have to go to school. It struck me immediately. But back in my
day, it was a bit easier and not so competitive to get into the school
that you absolutely wanted to go to. I am hoping that my daughter will
be able to go to that school that speaks to her as Roanoke spoke to me.
The days seem to move into each other so quickly that there isn't time to reflect. But this past year has been a year of decisions and thoughtfulness and creativity that hopefully will feed into this next one.
For now, though, I wish it would just be spring already.
If you want to say hello, please leave a note in the comments!
