Happy V-Day!

Wishing visitors to my blog a Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been longer than usual since my last posting. I'll update you....

Back in December some unfortunate things happened, affecting the health and well-being of three of my relatives. These were separate and unrelated events, but they happened one after the other. All three ended up in the hospital, including stays in shock-trauma and intensive care. The last of them has just now been released from the hospital. In all three cases, there was a concern that things were, or might have become, life-threatening. To say the least, this terrible string of unfortunate events really threw me for a loop. It caused such a significant interruption to the routine of things that I found myself far too distracted to maintain the creative flow and focus necessary to keep up with my work. Not to mention on top of all this there was the holiday season as well! Anyway, it took until mid-January for the dust to settle, and until now for things to finally get more or less back to normal.

This past week I have finally been working again on my writing, something I have longed to do throughout these many weeks but have simply not had the focus I need to be productive with. I dabbled at it here or there, but could never get anywhere with it. Instead, I used the creative time to read and catch up on some other projects. It turned into another of my "creative breaks" where I seek to feed the soul and replenish the well-spring. Over time, and with the improving conditions of all three family members, I have found my way back to where I was before all this happened.

So, at this point, I am happy that everyone is doing well, and I am back to work and have been for a week already. I am still editing JACK & JILL and it is going well. I like the story, and feel after rereading the entire manuscript that I do NOT have to make significant changes. I'll keep the story as it is -- it works. I just need to continue editing for clarity, to increase focus on scene goals and complications (which helps to raise suspense), and to fill in little tidbits that keep it smoothly flowing. I am reluctant to set any goals at this time as I don't want to invite another series of disasters, but with any luck I'll manage to keep the flow going and should be done with the edit in the next 2-4 weeks (end of February or by mid-March).

After that, I'll get back to the JASPER story to finish it off, and will invite Beta Reader comments on each, do any additional editing, and start sending this two stories out. And then it's back to work on THE REFLECTING STONE and/or whatever else, depending on where my interests lie at that time.

Glad to be back at work, and glad to have the stresses off my shoulders. Glad things worked out for all concerned.

Wishing everyone else focus and productive writing time,

Adrian