Incredible

August is never a month that I love.

It's still summer. I really hate the heat.

It was formerly the start of the school year. I worked as a teacher for 29.88888 years and was imprisoned in a classroom for 12 + 4 then 3 more getting my master's degree.  I really, really didn't want to be there.

About halfway through my teaching career I stumbled upon Alice in Wonderland. Yes, I know.

I had read snippets from Lewis Carroll's famous book for years. I've seen the cute Disney version. (NOT the one ruined by Johnny Depp. Sorry if I have offended his fans. I don't find him aesthetically pleasing.) I did indeed like the cute Disney version.

But I didn't get around to reading it until I was in my 40s.  It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. It was filled with so many truths about life--disguised cleverly.

Here's one that guides me still and certainly for many years of check-box evaluations and students who like me didn't want to be there (and as you read, substitute insane for mad):

"But I don't want to go among mad people," said Alice.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here."

So here we are, and occasionally I still feel like Alice among the mad people, especially when I'm working my volunteer desk and the phone is ringing off the hook and people are coming in and more people act like they want to talk to me and I don't want to talk and--well. "We're all mad here." I mean, it's madness.  The mountains are 30 minutes away, and I'm sitting behind a desk?

But--.

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." That's Sharon Begley, a former science editor for Newsweek magazine and likely much much more than that, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

Because--

The important thing is that the incredible is right before us. It's God. It's all of his creation. It's the miracle of Christ, in his sacrifice and his resurrection. It's the joy of living. It's people.

And people offer the incredible with every word, every smile. Just like the miracles of nature and family that loves you no matter what and babies being born and little dogs with huge hearts and words that come when you think all the ideas have died and oh so very much.

"Something Incredible."

Look for something today. It won't be a "flash-bang" fireworks display. It's the quiet things. Find them, and celebrate.

The Ever-Expanding Novel

I love writing . . . 

Even when the story takes hold and throws my whole schedule off.

I have a schedule, by the way, to give me hope for the next bright shiny thing. (That's an important writing tip!) In my previous existence, I lived for weekends and holidays. Now, every day seems like the weekend and a holiday!

In my writing world, my current novel is consuming many more writing days than planned. That's a great thing for readers who love Regency mysteries. Not so great for writers looking forward to the next great thing.

The Hazard of Secrets, or HoSecrets as I call it, is book 10 in the 12-book Hearts in Hazard series, a loosely-linked series of English Regency mysteries. The plan, way back in Autumn 2015 when I published the first three books, was to finish the series in 2019, publishing three books a year. I planned a skip in 2016 to publish Digging into Death, the first book in the Isabella series.

In the HnH series are 3 Game novels (Secrets / Spies / Hearts), the 3 Danger novels, and the 3 Key novels. Now I'm writing the first of the last three, The Hazard of Secrets.

HoSecrets has expanded on me. First, the Cute Meet trope turned into dangerous events with a press gang, human trafficking, and street urchins. Then, the murder mystery turned into a murder with a double attempted murder and a contemplated murder followed by a second actual murder. And none of those are connected to the poisoning!

Originally, the novel was going to be 50,000 words. Breaking a rib slowed me down through June. Then the press gang took over, and the street urchins were snippy little allies. I backed up the publication date to July 15 then July 30 then August 15.

Well, it's not going to publish on August 15. No way, no how, not possible. I'm plugging along, though, really happy with the story, constantly getting ideas from my impish muse (who's currently dancing around a tree), and trying to avoid most distractions. Summer is full of distractions!

As for those 50,000 words ~

I hit the mark of 50,000 words when I started typing chapter 16 on July 26. The rough draft was in chapter 23 at that point, with a best guess-timate of 58,000 words for the word count. (I distinguish between my rough draft and my typing draft, the second much more cleaned-up than the first.)

I typed to 60,000 words on August 6. On Saturday August 10, I closed off the laptop at 68,817 words and chapter 20.

I'm really hoping the book is not going to 85,000 words, but I'm currently drafting chapter 27 with three chapters (or more) still to come. With an expected 30+ chapters, I still have one-third of the manuscript to type. Then it goes to proof-plus before publishing.

This ever-expanding novel happened last year with The Key for Spies, at over 95,000 words, 30,000 more than planned.

My new deadline date for HoSecrets is before Labor Day (I've decided to go vague on projected dates), but who knows? The hero may have to come riding ventre a terre (a lovely French phrase that I first encountered in Jane Aiken Hodges' Watch the Wall, my Darling).

Hearts in Hazard Book 11 ~ The cover for The Hazard for Spies is here. I'm mulling over lawyers and a crime boss and disguises. And spies, of course!

Hearts in Hazard Book 12 ~ The cover for The Hazard with Hearts, the last planned book in the series, is currently at the designer. HwH will be my most vintage gothic. I may even have a ghost! Since I'll probably be writing during October, that's appropriate.

I hope I don't scare myself!

As a writer, am I scared about my schedule and the time taken up by The Hazard of Secrets? Nope. I'm relishing the revealed story.

And that's what matters.

And the future?

2020 will see the finish of the Isabella Into Death series. I hope to turn the Hearts in Hazard e-books into paperbacks, which will make my sister happy.

I'm going to finish off a couple of series under my pseudonyms as well as a craft-writing series. I have another series running under one of those pseudonyms, and I want to play in that world a little bit more with two more novellas.

Before I finish with 2019, I'm looking at upwards 7 books. I'm filled with excitement!