Lets see how long this lasts.  I am avoiding scrubbing the tiles, seriously, so a hiding I go.  I dislike this moving process.  I do love that I get to be somewhere else, but the process bites.  I’m hoping its the last one in a long long time and at least I know the area is a good place to be since I lived near there once upon a time.

So I’ve been thinking to myself quite heavily about the things that I am planning on writing next and with the notes I have taken down I think there will be a HUGE dent in it.  It makes me happy and sad at the same time.  Happy because I know what I’m going to do; sad that its difficult to do it at the moment with most things boxed up and I’m working off very few things.  The things that I have to do outweigh the free time I have and that is a frustration and a half.

I have yet to write about Emma, a very good suggestion for a character description.  That child….all I can say is she will hold a strong voice soon enough and she should never be overlooked.  Each one of my characters are a necessity, hardly a single one that is sitting there with no story to tell or to help move it along.  Even this child is hardly a helpless thing.  

For those who have read Rise of a Queen, as a beta reader or as someone who really enjoys it, can tell I have a flair for strong characters.  I’m not a fan of weak ones.  Sympathetic/empathetic; maybe.  I think that each and every one of them should be able to hold their own.  It could be the way I was raised, to never be helpless; also having to count on someone 100% of the time is going to give you 50% the fail and that I have learned through my own trial and error; unfortunately I still go through that.  It’s called being human (me, not the characters).  I feel that if I cannot step into the characters shoes and feel/see/do their actions I have failed.  I know, I know, its not that way with all writers.  I just get emotionally involved, even with the ones that people get mad at.  Get this though, if you get mad at them or have any feeling whatsoever I feel like I have done my job.  I get mail or messages asking me questions or telling me “Oh I am at this part and its driving me crazy; please tell me something terrible/good happens to X soon.”  Or I get ones that give me their thoughts on what they expect to come up hoping to get a hint (if I give one it is always of no help but fun to play along) or the best one “Holy Crap I didn’t expect that!” 

I may not be Anne Rice, Stephanie Meyers, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, or all those others and I’m sure I will never play in their field.  I write to write, realizing that I’m not going to be able to retire on the income.  No big deal.  If people enjoy it then I’ve done my job. I’ve gotten the right book into the right hands.  If they don’t, then obviously we didn’t connect and no hard feelings on either end.  Do know, though, that I am quite passionate at my writing and put every ounce of emotion (and research) that I could possibly put and I would love for those to continue on that journey with me as the series continues.