Buckling Down

Isn’t winter the best time to sit in a corner and read? Well, it is for me. I’ve been cashing in my Kindle gift cards and I’m down to my last $11.38. Binge reading. That’s what it is. I haven’t been completely idle when it comes to my own writing, but I haven't been highly productive, either. 

After Christmas, I needed a break after having finished Mist on the Meadow, and in January I received my edits back from my editor. To fill space, I did outline a new story, but I also picked up Epitaph, my last story from the shelf. Epitaph is essentially written, but requires some rework and a ton of editing. I was amazed at how “unpolished” it was when I picked it back up, but that’s probably one of the reasons it went to the shelf in the first place. So I’ve been practicing my craft, but not creating.

And now it’s February. High time to jump into that new project, don’t you think? I got as far as Chapter One a couple of weeks ago, but that elusive something wasn’t right, and my creative brain was still exhausted from the sprint on Mist on the Meadow. I do believe that creative space is ready for some exercise again. Yes, I’m jumping into the new story, as yet untitled, but inspired by the Shoemaker and the Elves. I have my main characters, I have a sketchy plot, but I’m still working on “she’s hiding something. She has a secret.” This has to be a big deal, that’s part of what makes the story interesting, but so far I have no idea what that “something” is. And that’s okay. It generally takes a couple of chapters for me to get fully acquainted with my characters, and if she has a secret, it will take her at least that long to confide in me what it is. Note: No, the story isn’t based on a real person.

So . . . while I’m waiting to hear back from agents who are dying to represent Mist on the Meadow to the big publishing houses, I thought I’d check in with you folks. Help me write my story. The heroine in my story has moved to another continent to escape the United States and “her big secret,” but now she has to come back to attend to family and/or business matters, while being careful to protect/avoid association with her secret. She’s either running away or she’s hiding out. (This is how an author’s mind works.) What would be motive enough to send you packing to a foreign country?