Cover Reveal

Courageous Heart is still deep in editing and won't be ready for publication for a month or two yet. In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you what the cover looks like, since it just arrived in the mail today!

the lighting is not great and my camera died mere seconds after I took this photo :/ But there you go.

I am so excited about this book!!

Writing Update

Courageous Heart has been sent off to my editors! Depending on how long the editing process takes it will either be April or May when it is officially published. I'm not going to give a specific date because these things always seem to take longer than I anticipate.

In the meantime, I have dusted off the partially finished project, The Tragedy of the Traitor which I intend to finish writing before Summer has come and gone. :) This will be #4 in my Robin Hood series and will follow the story of Allen A Dale; his youth in Scotland, his part in the Third Crusade, and his adventures in Sherwood of course. I'm excited to get this one finished soon! It's been sort bouncing around the back of my head for a while. I started writing it a LONG time ago, but I put it aside to focus on the Finding Hope series (Isolated and Courageous Heart). I'm excited to get back to it now. I'm hoping it won't take ages to write this one.

It is truly fascinating to me how long it takes me to write books because, frankly, it varies. I wrote Lucy's Legend in one month. It took me at least a year, quite likely more (I wasn't paying that much attention...) to write Dusty. So at any rate, I'm curious how long The Tragedy of the Traitor will take. We shall see, I suppose.

Apologies

Okay. I feel the need to apologize for my last post. It sounded like I was ranting and no one needs to hear that. I don't want my corner of the Web to be a place that adds to the negativity of the world.

However, I do also want to clarify that I wasn't actually ranting. When I was writing that post I was not angry, or upset, or even mildly frustrated. To be honest the strongest emotion I was feeling at the time was amusement. It amuses me more than annoys me that people keep asking me if I am still writing. Granted, I'll roll my eyes on occasion, but I am not nearly as frustrated by it as my last post suggests. I read over that post a few days after I published it and was truly shocked by how "ranty" it felt to me, because that isn't how I felt while writing it.

I run into this problem a lot.

And it isn't just on the Web, where you can't see my face or hear my voice so maybe it's understandable things don't come across correctly. No. I have this problem is person too. I always sound more upset than I actually am. I have no idea why my voice and/or body language convey so much more negative emotion than I feel, but I swear it happens to me all the time. And I feel awful about it.

So anyway, I wasn't trying to rant but it definitely seemed like one, even to me, so sorry about that.

Are You Still Writing?

It comes in many shapes and sizes, this question. Curiosity. Scorn. Skepticism. Genuine interest.

Are you still writing?

I have been asked this question more times than I could ever count. Many times from the same people...over and over and over. And my answer is always the same. Yes. Of course I'm still writing.

And yet the question keeps coming.

Some people are just curious. Are you still writing? Some people are less pleasant. Are you still writing? As if writing was the worst career anyone could ever choose to pursue.

But my answer will always be the same. Yes. Yes I am still writing.

Still, the question follows me everywhere I go. People don't understand, no matter how many times I tell them. So today, I'm going to help you understand.

Asking a writer if they are still writing is like asking a human if they are still breathing.

I have never understood the basis for this question. Do you think I would give up on my passion? Do you think it was just a passing fancy?

Are you still writing?

Let me explain something to you.

Writing is not my hobby. Writing is not my passion. Writing is my existence.

I don't write because it is just something that I enjoy. Do I enjoy it? Immensely. But that is not the point. I write because I have to. I cannot stop writing. It's a part of my very being.

So please, stop asking me if I am still writing. Ask me what I am writing.

And I will gladly tell you.