As for the Bluewater Bay novel, I wrote synopsis and blurb last weekend, and finished the cover art request, so that one’s out of my hands until the dev edits come back.

That leaves me free to work on Black Box. I started writing that one around Christmas, but fizzled out after only a few hundred words. The plot outline I had was just not working. The beginning bored me to tears. And if it bores me, it’s going to bore you, which is not acceptable. I’d been more or less idly kicking that one around in my head for the past few weeks, the muse feeding me stingy little bits and one-liners that ever so slightly shifted the characterization of both protags. Today I sat down to redo the outline. I threw index cards around like confetti, rearranged them in elaborate mosaics, scribbled here, scratched out there–in short, I made an inspiring creative mess of things, and I’m much happier with what I have now. I should be able to do at least the first few chapters, before I run into a couple of looser points that need to be tied down still. We’ll see.

I’ve also gone over the beta edits for the Bluewater Bay novel and submitted that earlier this month (another tada).

So everything feels done, done.  I’m scribbling a sentence or paragraph here and there, but the muse has eaten too much chocolate and gingerbread (I also suspect she got into the rum we brought back from Cuba), and is idly twirling gift wrapping ribbons around her thumbs while I’m organizing files. I’ve long been planning to collect all the bits and pieces like plans, plot bunnies, orphaned scenes, half-written novels, and terrible first drafts into a private wiki, so I can find things back at a click when I’m looking for them. That is finally happening. It’s the classic year end clean-up that allows for a breather, sets a symbolic marker, and frees capacities for a fresh start.

In that spirit I’m toasting you with some rum-spiced eggnog and wish you all Happy Holidays and lots of cheer celebrating whatever you’re into.