New things, new routines, more writing...

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to give you another progress report on Blood God. If you recall, my dream was to have it finished by July 4th. I'm sorry to say my progress was delayed, but I promise it was for very good reasons.

For one thing, we got new furniture for the house. (No worries, it wasn't really "inherited," the furniture was given to us by family since they were moving into a smaller space.) I'm still in the process of unpacking and reorganizing pretty much the entire house. I love the new furniture and we've wanted new furniture for a long time, but there are still boxes of things to sort through and I was unable to write for a few weeks. Was it worth it...absolutely! Real life comes before writing and settling in and reorganizing after a big change like that is very important and honestly kind of fun.

Next came the beach trip. Directly after we got the furniture and almost got all of the unpacking finished, we went for a week and a half to Garden City Beach. Most of my time was spent going to the beach with my children and then taking them to see aquariums, alligators, and basically giving them something new to do each day. I exercised more than I have in a very long time and was very busy throughout most of my days there, to the point that I actually physically needed a nap almost everyday. However, that doesn't mean I didn't write at all.

Apparently my muse lives at the beach. While I didn't finish writing by July 4th, I finished the outline for the rest of the book. I also wrote 10,000 words and the word count is now at 82,000. I know I said I thought the book would be around 90,000 words, but after completing the outline, I think it will be closer to 100,000 so I'm going to have to spend a bit more time on it. I'm sorry, but I think the results will be well worth it. This is the last book, and I refuse to rush it.

Basically, at this point, we're looking at the end of the summer at the earliest. I need to proof read it for content, then give it over to my husband to proof for content and any grammatical mistakes he sees, then I'll send it to the editor. I also still need to also contact Joey about the artwork for the cover, but I'm trying to wait until the book is entirely finished so I can pick an appropriate scene.  I was sincerely hoping to be working on my young reader horror novels by the beginning of fall, but I'm not sure if I'll still be editing this novel or doing the blog tour for it, so we'll have to see. I think it depends on when I finish with the writing and how long the edits take. Either way, I'll be writing as often as I can.

In other news, my husband has a new job! I'm ecstatic. We didn't have to move away and for once it sounds like we don't have to worry too much about money.We should be able to afford pre-school for the little one next year. It sounds like our oldest will have to go to pre-school full time coming up. I'm a little concerned about that, but I think it will be okay. It seems like an awfully long day for someone who is only just now four. However, upon seeing the results of her speech therapy, it will definitely be worthwhile. This will be just as hard an adjustment for me, though. I'll miss her terribly while she's at school, but I'm sure the youngest will keep me occupied.

Well, I'd better go. This was longer than I expected and I still have more writing to do. I'll keep you posted on the progress.