Working On...

I'm working!

I'm working...really. 2025 is nearly halfway finished, and I have survived.

Sometimes, that is the best work you can do. I'm surviving.

I think many of us are in that mode 'survive'. Thrive later, but right now just survive. not just here, in my beautiful and beloved Blue Ridge mountains, still struggling to recover from Helene, but all around the world.

So let's take future books and Things to Look Forward To...

Spring! Summer!

A new idea slammed into me recently and refuses to let go. The characters, especially Hank, have been...um, whispering (Hank doesn't whisper...whine a bit, but not whisper) in my ear and I set aside Book 4 of Abbeville to respond to his...their... call. 

It's both hard and easy to write what Hank is showing and telling me. Hard because the setting is September 27-30, 2024, in Western North Carolina.

Hurricane Helene damage, downtown Asheville

(Tangent: September has now become a month of the most devastating events to happen in US and NC history: The Terrorist Attacks on 9.11 and Hurricane Helene's rampage on 9.27). 

Easy because Hank is showing me everything as if I'm watching a movie, seeing and hearing clearly as each character speaks, interacts, and goes about the last of their 'normal' lives before everything changes. I'm just basically typing what I see.

Meet Hank

But again...reliving these events, still so fresh in my mind, is emotionally draining. It's why I'm going to hesitate to release this new book, since these events will also still be very, very fresh in the minds of some of the people who might read it.

A bit like 2018, when I was set to release Let Me Know, which features a volcano eruption-- and Madame Pele decided to show her power in real life with the eruption of Mount Kilauea. This event changed the face of Hawaii forever (the good part was it added several acres of pristine new beach), destroying homes, businesses, and lives. While no one was reported killed, dozens were injured from falling debris and lava, while 724 structures were destroyed. 

2018 Kilauea Eruption

I delayed the release of Let Me Know because it just felt wrong, somehow, to release a book celebrating love and new life when so many were struggling to rebuild their lives. 

I feel the same way now, with this new project. It seems wrong, somehow, to release a book detailing my experience (as seen through Hank) with Helene when so many are still struggling to recover. But for now, I'm writing what Hank shows me, and we'll go from there.

So...I am working. I promise. Stay tuned for more Hank.