Hey everyone! It’s my favorite time of year — fall — and I’m busy putting the garden to bed and moving plants indoors for the winter. I’ve been trundling along steadily on the first book in the followup series to Children of the Desert; it’s going very slowly, but it’s going. It’s currently about 130K words and I’m beginning to search for where the end point will fall. I do not want it to run too much longer!
I’m also starting to put my long-shelved science fiction novel (novella? It’s only around 70K) through beta readers. This is the first in a planned series of short, relatively snappy stories in this world. It’s madly complicated, very unlike my usual writing, and I’ve been frankly terrified of letting anyone else see it. I do love it very much, though, as it’s the end result of over thirty years of poking at this concept. I started writing this one in high school, and early versions involved teenagers building a spaceship-car in their attic (without their parents noticing, somehow!), stuffing their backpacks full of yogurt, and blasting off through that poor roof for the stars. It’s evolved rather a few light-years from that point….
It’s been a very long and difficult few years, and certainly the last two have been extraordinarily painful, on several levels. I do believe I’m regaining my oomph, and have firm plans to spend much of the cooler months knocking out lots and lots of words, since the garden will no longer be a convenient distraction and after last year I am sick to death of baking bread.
Everyone here is healthy and reasonably happy. I do miss seeing y’all at conventions and events, but I’m honestly happier staying home right now. Possibly, if things go well, I’ll start going as a visitor to conventions next year. We’ll see.
I hope you are all surviving with good cheer, with your wit and wisdom and compassion intact, and stepping out to enjoy the sunshine whenever possible. Until next time — keep loving the world, and keep your heart open!
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