Underway Update and Big Reveal

Update 11/15/19 – the manuscript is about ready to go to the editor. And I have a surprise! The draft of the Underway Cover. I’m loving it. What do you think?

Previous update:

I wanted to give you an update on Underway. As is obvious now, my projected publishing date has come and gone. I’ve now revised it for (hopefully) a December release. The reasons why are two-fold.

One, life got in the way and derailed my desire to write. And in some ways even my ability to write. I addressed that with my Anger Journal, and my creativity appears to be back on track.

The more important reason, though, was I got lost halfway through book two, mired in structure instead of remembering why I was writing. I forgot that I love TJ Wilde. I love telling her story. I love her quirkiness, her flaws, her inability to commit, her damaged soul, and mostly her fight to stay positive and moving toward what she wants.

In other words, I lost her voice. And I love her voice.

My first editor really, really did not like TJ, felt she was too dysfunctional, too morally challenged. She tried several times to sterilize her. I was a brick wall on that point. We agreed to disagree and instead focused on the structure and timing of the novel.

My current editor loves TJ as much as I do. Appreciates her tang, her spark, her weaknesses, and I suspect we will tangle more on pacing and structure than we will on characters.

Anyway, I’ve taken a long break, finished my cookbook, and dabbled with my other series. Most importantly, I indulged in the female characters that reminded me of how I like my heroes: the inept, yet fearless bounty hunter with a love of big hair and bigger eyelashes; the filled with anger and teenage hormones private eye; the “rules are for adults” preteen with a penchant for uncovering mysteries; the overall-wearing six-year-old with impulse control issues; the vampire slayer, also awash in teenage hormones and resentment; and yes, I suppose even a cowardly, clumsy talking Great Dane.

So now, refreshed, I now feel ready to tackle (with a lot of rewriting) Underway again.

I’m hoping to have a least a rough draft of Chapter One to share soon.

Stay tuned…