The final curtain

It's done. The last Epitaph installment is with the editor. Bittersweet, when a series comes to an end.

With every ending comes a new beginning. My plan is to take the holidays off, catch my breath. Do all the things I've been putting off in the mad rush to finish, and yet another story is never far behind. I have thoughts of a new stand alone, and I have ideas for a new series. I'm also thinking of expanding my brand, for those folks who don't appreciate the steamy bits. With recent world events, I'm leaning to the sweeter side of romance. Can't say for sure until I sit down and write the darn things.

For this week, I'm going to hug my 19 year old "blonde assistant" cat. I'm going to clean my house. I'm going to do my Christmas shopping and I'm going to check my Christmas cookie recipes for the best ones to make this year on "cookie baking day." I'm going to clear more of my TBR list. So many great books from authors I admire and enjoy. And I'm looking forward to spending more time with my family and friends. For this week, I'm going to smile and appreciate all the little things and when I get my edits back on Friday, I will begin preparing Epitaph 7 for it's release in the new year.

Thanks to all of you for encouraging me to keep on keeping on!

Catch up on all the Epitaph books here

Giving Thanks

It's always nice to take a minute out of our lives to give thanks for all we have. How appropriate that we have holiday for that!

I am thankful for my family - My husband. My children and the people they've chosen to spend their lives with. My grandchildren. My sisters. Aunt and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins.

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to share my home with pets.

I am thankful for my friends.

I am thankful for the people who read my books. You have no idea how much it means to have someone appreciate the fruits of my labors of love.

I am thankful for my faith. I have been blessed, and on those days when I need to remind myself of that fact, I'm grateful to have blessings to count.

I am thankful for food on my table and continued health.

Wishing you all a
Happy Thanksgiving.

If it's worth doing...

I'm very excited to tell you I've finished the first draft of Epitaph 7! That's when the real work begins, the checking through it for continuity and holes and "what was I thinking there?" The getting a finished product ready for the editor.

As I finish writing a book, my brain is usually spinning ahead to "what's next." In this case, I'd already decided to give myself a break over the holidays. Finish off Epitaph 7 and give my creative juices a breather. Wouldn't you know it, my imagination had other ideas. In between my OCD to finish what I have, I got excited to start in on my next project - except my next project would come with a February deadline. That's pretty ambitious, and for someone who was looking for time off, will I short-circuit myself? It would mean rushing through completing this one or rushing through writing the next one. This is where the old adage "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right" has been front and center in my head.

I always strive to bring the best product forward. The original Epitaph novel is an example of that. I started that book in 2009, but I couldn't get it right. Even I knew it wasn't working, but I couldn't let it go. It took me seven years to figure out what was wrong and fix it, but rather than try to force a sub-par book to market, I took my time. I'm pleased with the end result, and the rest of the series that it spawned, and I'm glad I took the time to get it right. Likewise, I can't rush the final installment to market until it's done "right," and I don't want to hurry the new story at the risk of making a muddle of it. Once I start the new project, I'm not sure I'll make the February cut-off, but the new story is speaking to me. In a loud voice. Clearly. So it will be written. If I miss the cut-off, I'll wait for my next opportunity to present it, or I'll follow Plan B (yes, there actually is a Plan B).

The moral of my story (and shouldn't there always be a moral?) is to follow your heart, and if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well/right, even if it takes a little extra time.

When the antagonist is a family member

As I was working through plot points on my latest work in progress, I was trying to decide my antagonist's character arc -- and struggling somewhat since the antagonist is a family member. Coincidentally, I was concurrently reading a book by another author in which the antagonist was also a family member. Brilliant! I figured I could see how she handled the situation, even in a different genre, to see if I might be able to apply similar tactics.

Nope.

Having a family member as an antagonist opens a whole new can of worms. In the leisure reading I was doing, the author actually killed the guy off! Family member and all! The hero was conflicted on several levels about what to do with him and actually told his law enforcement friends not to kill the only family he had left. Granted, the villain was beyond redemption and in a tough spot, but there were so many other ways the author might have dispatched him. Let's just say I was horrified at the route she took. The guy had assassins after him, for heaven's sake, and she let the hero mortally wound him and one of the law enforcement guys (who'd been asked not to kill him) shoot him dead, all while the assassins had a gun trained on the him. ARGH! My sense of honor was offended. My sense of "this is fiction! You get to decide how this man dies" was offended. Of all the options... and then "the hero is now free to live happily ever after." WAIT! WHAT? This is his last remaining family! Despite the antagonist being beyond redemption, there were other ways to dispatch him that might be less traumatic to the hero and the heroine he was trying to protect. Needless to say, I will not be applying any of these options to my antagonist. Which takes me back to how best to deal with dispatching MY antagonist.

In my work in progress, the antagonist is evil, but she's in over her head. I'm thinking she might get jail time, but I don't think its serious enough for her to be killed over (contrary to the book I just finished - that guy definitely deserved what he got, but as a reader, I would have preferred by other hands). So I'm back to muddling around inside my own head meting out justice to the bad guy to the satisfaction of our protagonists.

Sometimes this author stuff is heady!