This is not a product endorsement. I’m just oversharing with you all for a moment.

I don’t know if it’s the post holiday blahs, the Maine winter blahs or just simply that my life has suddenly turned absolutely boring, but the past couple of weeks I’ve wondered what in the world am I going to write about this week that will sound interesting to people? Seriously, I thought last week’s blog about smells was going to make everyone yawn and unsubscribe! But it turned out to be quite popular. I couldn’t believe the number of emails and social media comments it generated. I guess it just proves that smells and their associated memories are something that are universally felt.

This week I thought I should probably share with you an update on my progress with the Prequel. It’s moving along a bit faster now that I’m not doing a bunch of promotional events for my first book, The Gathering Room - A Tale of Nelly Butler. Switching gears in my brain from marketing the first book to focusing on writing the next book took a couple of days of adjustment. It comes in fits and starts as they say. Winter certainly doesn’t help! Everything slows down, even your brain!

I will tell you that yesterday, after nearly 4 hours of staring at the wall and producing nothing, the flood gates finally burst and I wrote non stop until almost 9:00 last night. I was determined not to go to bed until every last bit of what was in my head was on my tablet. You all will be happy to know that Edmund was interrogated and caught in the web of his own lies! It’s a pivotal moment in the story. Of course if makes absolutely no sense to any of you at the moment, so you will just have to trust me. It’s good!! The manuscript currently sits at around 79,000 words. To give you a reference point, The Gathering Room is 121,000 words in it’s published form. So I am getting closer!!!

So this brings me to another week and facing yet again the lack of an interesting topic. This morning, as I drifted about aimlessly looking for a blog topic, I decided to ask the internet, “Blog ideas for historical fiction writers.” I found a list of 100 blog topics. Things like “Explain why your book is different than any other book in the genre.” Ummmm, well that seems a little obvious. The Gathering Room is based on the first documented ghost sighting in America. No one else out there has fictionalized the story the way that I did. No one else has a ring!! Oh and it’s written by me! So there are a couple of difference right there!

Another topic idea was “Feature one of your Readers on your blog.” I actually liked that and I began to think about all of you! Of course I won’t embarrass any of you and call you out by name. But I would like to give a shout out to the woman who messaged me, said she was about three quarters of the way through the book, loved it and wanted to finish reading it while physically in Sullivan or Franklin. That was pretty amazing! Or the woman who has shown up at several events I appeared at just to say hello and chat with me for a moment. Sometimes I think she has logged as much mileage as I have across this state! Only she can’t use it as a write off as I can. Bless her! The woman who I met who wasn’t interested in the book so much as she was my “accidental author” story. She admitted that historical fiction was not her genre, but she was absolutely inspired by my journey and how ordinary people can still do amazing things! Hope is not dead!

But the one Reader who truly pushed me forward, and probably without even realizing it, is someone who reached out to me just last week. I was in a funk, as noted above, post holiday, Maine winter, etc etc. I had been talking with my son about this whole author experience. What happened with the book, where it’s going, what the next one will do, other things we had on our plate for 2024 etc and I told him how I was stuck right now. Really hadn’t pushed the ball forward, as he likes to say, in regards to the storyline much over the past couple of weeks. The beautiful part of writing The Gathering Room was that I was writing it for my own entertainment. No deadline. I wrote at my leisure over the course of six years. There’s a bit more pressure with the Prequel and I was feeling it. I told my son that maybe I should just mark “award winning author” off the bucket list and move on to do something else. Of course he vehemently disagreed, but still I was having one of those moments we all face in life.

And then this Reader contacted me on social media. She probably has no idea how important her words were to me that night. Here is what she wrote, just exactly as she wrote it:

“It has taken me a while to finish your book (I was savoring every page & word)…BUT WOW IT WAS SO AMAZING. That last page left me in total AWE! I was like WOW WHAT JUST HAPPENED! Just amazing beyond words!! You are an amazing author who deserves the awards you have received! I am so looking forward to your prequel!! Take care & keep writing its obviously your calling.”

She sent it at 8:40 at night. I was preparing for bed and I sat on the edge of my bed and read that over and over. I cried. I then took a screenshot and sent it to my son with these words. “When you get this just before bed and you realize that maybe you should write tomorrow!.” He texted me back “You sure will!” Not that I ever really thought I would stop, but you know how we all get in funks once in a while. That was mine, and this Reader was tremendously helpful. So the prequel moves on toward the finish line! Thank you!

So that leaves us with the photo at the top of the blog this week. Among the blog ideas for historical fiction writers I found “Write about your morning routine.”. I laughed over this one because in this oversharing world we live in it just seemed so classic. Like of course I’m going to tell you I wake up every morning at 5 AM, put on my big fluffy robe covered in huge pink roses and make my way to the kitchen. There I make a cup of coffee usually in my Queen Elizabeth II cup, but sometimes in my King Charles III cup. I pour exactly two tablespoons of roasted and salted pepitas seeds in a bowl and grab an extra sharp cheese stick from the fridge.

Everything after that? Well it’s super secret author kind of stuff. I can’t tell you.