On Deadline

Not until I finish this thought---

I apologize for the silence. I have been finishing my next historical novel revisions, due June 1, and essentially losing my mind. The year 2026 has gone a little something like this:

You think I jest. But I spent January, February, March, and April talking about revisions, and then May began. See chart, where work begins. That would be January 1, the FO portion of the process.

Then suddenly it was May 1. I started to panic. I started baking and gardening madly. I took long walks. I was very busy. Then it was May 15th. I added “2 p.m. REVISE” to every calendar day for the rest of the month. Around May 18th, the panic tripped over into something else, some shift in energy, and I began all the work while crying. I have been working early mornings and late into the night. Iced coffee, hot coffee, chocolate, Pepsi, naps, backaches, indoor writing and out.

I’m still in the ATWWC phase. So I can’t hang around and chat just now. I have added some ten thousand more words so far, two entirely new and unexpected chapters, and am beating the hell out of my characters. I am getting meaner by the minute. My girls are going to come out of this as totally different people—as they should. Because you know that characters have to make deep changes and have epiphanies and all that along the way.

The novel’s title is now Comes a Fox, and I hope you love it when it’s finally published (August 2027). At this very moment, ‘tis not quite great. But it’s getting better all the time.

I’ll see you after June 1, when I am less frantic and much more sane. Thanks for hanging in.

xxx

Hoolia