Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Time's getting away from me. First of all, I have to say that I probably had the most productive summer I've ever had. I finished two novels this summer. Usually, it takes me over a year just to get through one novel. So, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with myself at this point. However, the school year is coming so close I can almost smell it--and yes, for those of you who are not teachers or students, you can smell it. I have three weeks until I have to step back into the classroom and those first weeks are completely exhausting. If you've never done it, I frequently refer to it as tight rope walking while juggling fire over a crocodile pool. That's about right. You just need to add some attitude to it all. However, I have one more book to write. Book one of The Star Circle Trilogy: The Shattered Prism is out. I'm still stoked over the fact that it stayed on a best seller list for five days. Book 2: Walking With Shadows has been turned in, signed, seale

I love to travel. If  I had money, I'd be trouble. I'd actually have a passport and the means to travel the way I would like to. See, there's the thing right there. I readily admit that I'm no back packer through the mountains who likes to stay at hostels. Not going to happen. As I said in college once I like my big dog and six foot fence. I like people in my own fashion. Anyway, I do like to see things. Now, the closest I've been to Europe at the moment is The World Showcase in Disney World. It's also been the Paris in Vegas. I just got back from Las Vegas and I have to say that even after spending several days there seeing is still not quite believing. It's wild. It's like a Disneyland for adults. Never before have I been asked if I'd like a Bellini to go? Well, why not? I've also never before had the experience of people on the street trying to hand my husband business cards for "women to you in 20 minutes." Smart man, he didn'

I know, it sounds like I'm up to no good, doesn't it? It sometimes feels that way too. Think about it. Writers plan, we plot. We twist up characters in complicated pasts, we torture them and make sure that we ratchet up the tension. That's the other thing . . .are the stakes high enough. There are some books where the conflict just doesn't seem to be that big. Save one life? Is that really high enough stakes? I think it could be. I got involved in a conversation at DukCon that past weekend about stakes and conflicts. Can novels be too over-plotted? Can high stakes be too high? I think they can be. Some of my kids love the Maximum Ride books--James Patterson's kids books. I read, I think four of them, before I set them to the side. They were just exhausting. There was no down time at all with the characters. They were always running, fighting, fleeing. What character introspection we got was literally on the fly. In that case, for me, the story was over-plotted. Te