It’s rather nice to have a clear set of goals. I spent the first month after I released Daughters dithering about what I was going to do next. Now, publishing contract in hand, I know exactly what I need to work on. I love it.

I spent the first half of June getting The Marann and Daughters of Suralia ready for submission. Then I spent the second half of the month digging into The Fall, the next book in the series, which is Laura’s story. It picks up exactly where Daughters leaves off, and I promise you, the politics continue. Life in Parania as the second most powerful empath on the planet is anything but what she expected.

It took a while for Laura’s story to gel. She and the Paran go off, happily in love. She does come back when Marianne has her baby, but then she returns to Parania, to even greater possibilities. That’s not a beginning; that’s a happily-ever-after. What’s there to write about? The Paran expounding the origins of the Tolari over breakfast? <yawn> More sketching in the garden? <snore> I had to think through all the implications of the greater story arc before I realized the potential for drama. Believe you me, there is drama aplenty on the other side of Tolar. <evil cackle>

But The Marann is back from the editor, and it’s time to get back to work on that. The timing is actually pretty good; I need a “creative break” from The Fall for a bit. I know what needs to fill in the hole in the middle, but my muse is being stubborn when it comes to writing the actual scenes. It’s more than a little like pulling teeth with a rusty pair of pliers with one hand while digging to China with a broken plastic spork with the other. But I love editing, even when it’s hard — and I have no illusion that it will be easy to edit The Marann without ruining it.

Remind me how much I love editing when I’m ready to tear my hair out, though, ‘kay?