sometimes there are no reasons

There is no explanation for why it took me over five months to write my last book. It's not that long. I knew where it was going. Liked its characters. Of course, that wasn't solid writing, but from the time I began writing 1/15/17, it took until 6/3/17 to see the end of the first rough draft. 

The only similarly long time between start and finish was Love Waits, but I wasn't writing on it the whole time. I had begun its first chapter one autumn and just didn't have a good feel for it. I stopped to write other things and came back to it the next fall where the writing flowed. 

There are many drawbacks to having actual writing be sporadic and stretch over such a long span-- not the least of which is forgetting details that lead to a horse having its name changed on just one ride. Sometimes though it's just how it is and not the fault of the book but something in the writer. I would write for a while and then stop. Some days I'd make myself write. Others, I'd accept it was how it was.

One thing that complicated it was how many elements were in the book-- things I needed to think about. My paranormals are stories of humans finding their lives intermingled with the 'other' side. It's always a situation of trying to decide what that will mean for each of the books. This one was complicated by politics playing a factor since the hero is considering running for a political office. Politics are a dicey subject to put into any book.

My goal was this would be a shorter book like the first two of the Hemstreet Witches series at around 60,000 words. It ended up 70,000+. Its editing has also been difficult because of those writing breaks where I lost continuity-- something an edit is supposed to find. I tried to catch as much of that as possible before sending it to its other editor and beta readers. I doubt I found all the mistakes.

Anyway, this is its cover and after more editing, it should be out by the end of June. Time will tell on that too. 

In terms of my life, today is the graduation of our oldest grandchild. She is off to college next year and an adventure of her own. Dramatic time, a little teary and scary, but important as a part of the cycle of life. This is from 1998. I know they can't stay babies forever. We don't want them to, but I do miss those days and the cuddles.