I'm starting a new book...

But first, I have to remember how to write

It’s September!

I’m so ready for cooler weather soon. Sweater season is nearly upon us. I mean, not this week. This week it’s going to be in the 90s here, our drought is officially a drought, and the starlings clearly don’t understand that the bird bath is for everyone, not just them. But soon — soon it’ll be autumn. Perfect reading and yarning weather.

Last month was unexpectedly light for me. Edits on Cell Phone Story went by really quickly and we did line edits on MY SALTY MARY and got that turned in. It’s all off to the copyeditors now. And after years of back to back, sometimes overlapping deadlines, I suddenly have . . . nothing.

It’s a really weird feeling. I mean, I’ve done it! I’ve fulfilled my obligations! Sure, there’s the production stuff — copyedits and pass pages — and book releases. But none of that is hard. (Generally.) Those things have shorter time frames (usually a couple weeks for copyedits and up to a month for pass pages, but sometimes less), and authors are not encouraged to change much of the text at this point. There’s only so much I will be able to do when those come back.

So I did what I always do: I started making more work for myself.

Now, before you tell me I should take a break and enjoy my time off — I’ve done that too. (Sort of.) I already knew I needed some time to recover from the last mumble years of nonstop work, no matter how uncomfortable that makes me. So I have watched truly shocking amounts of YouTube, knit a bunch, reorganized my entire spinning fiber stash, and realized I had (accidentally!) strangled my basil plants and took new cuttings to start over again.

There are only so many things I can do before I really have to get back to writing. (Also, writing is my job. If I want money in the future, I need to write now.)

So . . . time to start something new.