I know,  I know... I'm not doing a great job, not even a good job, at keeping up to date on my blog.    I always sit in front of this screen and my mind goes blank.  It doesn't seem fair.  I can write 60,000word novels in a couple of weeks, but I can't think of anything to write when I want to blog.   So I decided this evening I would just start typing and see what happens.   I am proud to say that I printed off a 133,740 word manuscript for the Shadow Dragon series.  It's actually the mostly finished book 3 and the getting close to finished book 4.  I'm going to read it as one book and see if maybe that is what it's supposed to be.  My longest published book is 116,600ish words, which translated into 488 pages in paperback.    I'm both afraid and excited to see how it all plays out.  Once I finish this, I'm going to pass it back to my "editors" and see what they think.  I'm waiting a little bit to start reading the manuscript because I don't want the story fresh in my mind when I revise it.  In the meantime, I have been working on my attempt at 3rd person.  It is quite a challenge for me.  Seems strange that it would be hard.  Although I guess it's like doing something right handed when you're left handed or attempting to do something backwards when you're very familiar with doing it in the other direction.  It's not impossible, just takes some getting used to.  First person came so natural to me.  I didn't even have to think about it.  I had hoped third person would be the same, but boy was I wrong.  The original draft, I flipped between 3rd person and 1st person without even realizing it.  With the second draft I wrote it 3rd limited.  That was horrible.   I'm on my 3rd attempt to write it and I am trying 3rd person omniscient.  This is a much better attempt, but still not as easy as 1st person.   However, I love the story so much I am not able to shelf it and say "I can't do it."  and it won't work 1st person.  I've also been trying to come up with a title and cover for my "adult" book.  Ugh.  I have come up with a couple of ideas for the cover art, but the title remains elusive.  I also have been brainstorming on book 2 of story 13 (Yes.  Also in need of a title.)  I wrote 20,000 words, but it's not true to the main character so I have to back up and re-write it.   Something similar happened when I wrote Solace: Lost, and that ended up turning out wonderfully!

On top of all that I am enjoying the summer.  It's great having the kids home all day.  Although everything is changing because they're getting older, we still spend time doing things together just us.   I've also discovered my knew favorite place to write and revise down at the park.  The last time I was there I found a perfect spot on a bench by the river.  My legs are too short to reach the ground so they just swing back and forth while I type.  The scenery is perfect: not too close to the river or the playgrounds, I can glance up from my computer and see trees, feel the breeze and the warmth of the sun.