Friday, January 23, 2015

Hey, long time no see!

So... it's been a while, yes?

The reason for this is that I had come to the realization that I'd been focusing so intently on my writings that I was ignoring my family entirely. I would work during the day and then come home, say hi, and write all night. I hardly spent any time with my wife or daughters, so I decided that that needed to stop immediately. I gave myself a reality check! So from April 2014 until now I sat aside my writing hobby and became a better husband and dad. Now that I feel I've gotten my priorities straight again, I'm ready to pick up where I had left off.

To remind everyone, I was working on the third book of my Anderson series (the first two being Cicada Song and Not Quite Home) and I had previously been calling it Janie's Gift. I was thirteen chapters in when I stopped, and now I'm looking at it wondering if I should make some changes in my approach to the story. I'm mulling it over right now and hope to make a decision on whether or not to change it soon. Also, I've tentatively changed the title of Janie's Gift to Remembering Roses. I'm not sure if it'll stick or not, but I like it a lot more than any of the previous titles I've come up with for the story. I have a feeling that Remembering Roses will be what ends up on the spine.

If it takes me too long to decide how I want to approach Remembering Roses, then I'll set it aside and work on another project while I debate my uncertainties toward the story. I wouldn't be abandoning it as much as just putting it off to make sure that it's done justice. I've had two completely unbiased people named Mom and Grandma read what I've written so far, and they loved it; so I'm apparently on a good path. We'll see how it goes.