Getting the Groove Back/New Book Accepted

I seem to be back in my writing happy place after several weeks of brain fog. I was struck by flu on January 12, and yes I remember the exact date: I got up in the morning feeling all right, though with a minor sore throat and sniffles, and nearly passed out at the farmer’s market when the fever hit. (Apologies to everyone who was at the Pawtucket Winter Market that day because I’m sure I was spreading the virus far and wide. ) I was literally too sick to write for over a week, or to do much of anything other than napping and re-reading old favorite books, as new, fresh material was beyond me. I went back to work this Monday, but was still so tired and weak that no writing happened. Yesterday I got back on the wagon, drafting a short story and writing nearly 2,000 words on Out of Control, and I feel much better for it. Lesson: next year, get my flu shot and get it early!

One thing that perked me up in the middle of last week, when I was well enough that I felt I should be writing, but exhausted enough I just couldn’t do it after a day at the day job, was hearing from my editor at Samhain. Shaman’s Seduction (Duals and Donovans: The Different Book 3*) has been accepted and will be out in November. I did a major rewrite of this book at the editor’s request and ever since I resubmitted it, I’ve been at pins and needles hoping the new version worked. A stand-alone novel that doesn’t work for one editor can always be sent somewhere else, but that’s trickier when the book falls smack in the middle of a series. So relieved, and so happy that this book, which has been a troublesome one, has a good home and a pub date. Lesson: if you make the trickster god Coyote an important character in a book, expect the plot to take on a life of its own and go in directions you never expected, including some that will make both you and your editor rather uncomfortable.

Add my upcoming reading and the imminent release of Knowing the Ropes (February 26, but you can pre-order it from Amazon, BN, or direct from Samhain), I’m feeling pretty good about the writing side of my life. And yes, I am counting the days until KtR comes out.

* Astute readers will note there are already 4 Duals and Donovans books out. Fox’s Folly, the most recent release, is actually a prequel and takes place before any of the others, so it doesn’t have a sequence number.)