Is summer over?

I'm going to miss these nice summer and fall nights. They are passing by too quickly.

My youngest son and I have spent several nights outside talking about the Sacred Knight series. We sit on the swing and look at the stars. We wait to watch the International Space Station fly overhead on nights that it's visible. And we dive into where I'm at in the manuscript. There's some things I don't want to reveal to him because I want to keep him as an engaged reader too. But it's still been fun working in-depth over the storylines with him. It keeps me on my toes, makes sure I'm not missing obvious things.

Most importantly, it's been good time we've spent together. I am so going to miss it.

Progress on Second Book

I have to admit that I thought writing the second book would actually be easier than the first. It's not like this is my first "cake walk." I've got several manuscripts under my bed, so to speak. I have been writing since I was four, after all.

I knew that most of the second book would be a total rewrite from what I already have, but I also knew I'd be threading in a lot of the material from my earliest drafts of this story. So what's happened?

I'm on chapter 8 of scripting this out. I realize I have a lot of talking heads. If nothing else, thinking about how I'm going to put this into a graphic novel eventually has made me more aware of character interactions and settings. Pick up any comic or manga and you'll see intense action on nearly every page. It is harder to maintain that level in a book. I also realize this is my very first draft of this and there will be much rewriting to be done so I'm not even real worried about pace right now.  There's something more bothering me.

I wish I could put my finger on it. Maybe I'm anxious because the first book is so close to coming out. Maybe it's because I don't feel ready to put a deadline on the second book.

I use to never understand authors who had writer's block. I never believed in it. Until I faced my own.

Am I scared of getting into this and facing another block? Am I afraid that I'll have a failure to launch with the first book and no one will even care about the second book?

It really is times like these when my main character, Steigan, gives me strength. I can hear him telling me to circle round my fear instead of letting it circle around me. To do the latter means that fear takes my strength, but in the former strength is gained from the energy of fear. It forces you to be your best, to think things through, to stay sharp. Yes, he would say, there is a mind-shift that occurs when one turns the tables on fear. Even now, I can feel it like a seed within me.

My first draft doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be material to start with. Yes, I know what's going to happen in the story -- I should after all the time I've spent on it.

Good, strong characters come from the core of the author. Steigan is my core. When I feel like I'm going to shoot off in a million directions or fall to pieces, he steps in and reminds me to be who I am. He is my balance, my center. As long as I've listened to his noble advise, he's never led me astray. I'm glad to be telling his story.