As per usual, when things get a bit busy, the first thing that gets dropped is this blog.  The good news is that the source of my bus-i-ness, is, for the most part, my writing.  My current work in progress is approaching the 55,000 word mark, and for the last ten days or so, I’ve been writing quite steadily, having missed just two days, a Saturday on vacation in Oregon, and yesterday where I spent the entire day on the couch recovering from a 24 hour flu bug.  I had plans to get up early this morning and write, but my body needed more sleep, so I slept right through the alarm on my body clock, and waited until the kids awoke us at the oh–so-late hour of 7:15 AM.

I’m really happy with this new book, and have set a goal of finishing the first draft by the end of November, but that will involve a couple of long days to make up for a few short days.  Luckily Thanksgiving is a 4 day holiday for me, and I should be able to make good use of it.

I have one more person left in my writer’s group to review The Forgotten Road, but as soon as I am done my first draft on my WIP, I will sit down and do another edit on TFR, and then send it out to the agents.  Still hoping to have that done before Christmas.  Then an edit on my current WIP, and send that out to my readers.  By January 1, I’ll have my desk clear of works in progress.

And then what?  Well, not sure exactly.  Each of these two books I am working on is planned to be the first book in series.  But I’ve also learned not to jump into the second book until the first book is wrapped up.  Too much stuff changes.  If I get immediate feedback from an agent that they like TFR, then I will go and do a major edit on Nowhere Home (the sequel to TFR).  If I don’t get feedback, right away, I may write some short stories, or start planning on another series I’ve had in my brain.

I’m definitely not out of ideas at this point.  I just need to figure out which is the best one, and go with that.

As far as reading goes, I haven’t been reading much.  I’m working on Orson Scott Card’s Shadow Puppets, but it hasn’t really grabbed me, but that could just be that I am not in the mood to read that right now.  Anyway, the stack of books on my to read pile was refreshed by a stop at a book store in Oregon on vacation, and I am looking forward to some of those books.  But writing comes first, second and third right now in my spare time.

Okay, off to run my Saturday errands, then back to writing this afternoon during the kids naps, and then tonight again after they go to bed.