Coming Home to a Light Left On

My first five books are set in the Dream’verse. In Eve’s book I met Donte and Taro and each got a book. In Taro’s book I met Rafe, in Rafe’s book I met Keen.

First finished books, first published books, characters so firmly with me that I still see how they would react to situations without even thinking about it–it’s no surprise that though I wandered a lot before and I’ve branched out since, my roots are pretty deep in the Dream’verse. Working there feels like coming home.

Which is good, because I need all the help I can get this time around. Getting into editing Donte’s book has been difficult. I’d say it’s taken twice as long (with twice as much flailing) as anything else I’ve done. There are reasons.

• It’s my second completed book, written in a frenzied month. I edited it once, right after (and it gained thirty thousand words) and have barely touched it since. Since I’ve edited that first book many times over the years, Donte is my oldest piece of still-viable writing. Stuff from before Eve and Donte may get upcycled, but the writing itself won’t be used.
• Donte’s book is not a happy book. It’s the first book I wrote after my husband’s suicide. I wrote it over my first Christmas as a single woman in nearly ten years. Donte has his own issues, and our pain resonated in this book and–not happy. Not a happy book. It’s…beyond uncomfortable to go back to that place.
• My life is not exactly peaceful. Gone are the days when I went to work, spent the early evening with the kid, and sent her little self to bed with hours of evening left to write in. Now she’s fourteen and goes to bed not long before I do. I have friends who expect to see me sometimes now. A roommate. College homework. TDP commitments.

So mark the last week down to me struggling with all that. Or the last two weeks, however long it’s been. But now–well, now I’ve rewritten the first scene four times (after scrapping it twice, writing something else, then resurrecting the original). I’m pondering scrapping the second scene or moving it later, but I think I’ll toss it on the ol’ surgical table and do some messy cutting. Lucky it’s the right time of year for some good gory editing!

TL;DR version: CHARGE!!