Sunlight on Ripened Grain

Indie's gone. We were hoping for weeks, maybe even months. Instead, we had hours. He's left a yawning hole in our lives and in our hearts.

Do not stand on my grave and weep;

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in the circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there. I did not die.

by Mary Elizabeth Frye

Indie Update

We're bringing Indie home today. It is FIP. All we can do is make him comfortable and love him for however many days he has left.

Indie Is Dangerously Sick

I'd planned to do an excited post about my book tour, but I came home to a very sick kitten, and somehow I just can't.

At first, Steve thought Indie was lethargic and not eating because he was missing me. As a result, the alarm bells didn't ring until late Saturday night, when he took a turn for the worse and Steve rushed him to the emergency vet. We took him back this morning, and the vet kept him. They're doing tests but not sure yet what it is--he may have come to us with FIP, which is being complicated by exposure to a flare in Huck's chronic toxoplasmosis. Whatever, he's very dangerously ill.

I think I took all the heartache from losing Banjo last summer and poured it into the tiny kitten that showed up at my door a few weeks later. He's the sweetest little guy imaginable, and I'm so afraid.

Looking Ahead

Whenever I finish a book, I try to spend some time doing all the things I put off while I was caught up in the throes of writing. I clean my office, work in my garden, tackle some of the house repair projects I'm always putting off, etc. In the process of reorganizing my files this past week, I found some notes I'd written back in 2003, outlining my vision for the future of the Sebastian St. Cyr series. I was stunned to realize that I am now starting book #12 and I STILL haven't done some of the things I'd envisioned happening by the end of book #5! Which made me laugh--and also caused me to give some thought to what lies ahead.

Someone suggested recently that I add to my website a peek at what lies ahead, so I thought I'd do that here. As you know, I've just finished #11, and it now has a title: WHEN FALCONS FALL. Not my first choice (I wanted When Doves Fall), but I'm getting used to it. And the nice thing is that I already have approval for the title of #12, which is still only in the beginnings of the outline stage: Where the Dead Lie. 

How many more books will there be? I honestly don't know. But sales are still growing, my publisher is more strongly behind me than ever, and I have a lot of Sebastian and Hero stories I still want to tell.

In addition to dealing with my ever-growing To Do list, I'll be spending the next month plotting out #12, writing guest blogs for a number of sites that will be featuring Who Buries the Dead next month, and getting ready for my book tour the first week in March. I'm really looking forward to meeting my readers in Houston, Phoenix, Portland, and Seattle, and wish I could be going to even more cities.

I'm also planning a redo of my website, although that won't happen until April. My webmistress recently reminded me that it's been eight years now since she first did my site and pointed out that sites are much wider now than when my current one was made. So I'm going to be giving lots of thought to that and welcome any ideas for improvements.

There's a bunch of other stuff going on--I should be able to show you the cover for the audio book of Who Buries the Dead soon. And I may finally be officially getting the rights back for my first seven historical romances so that I can do something with them. But today I'm dealing with a swarm of bees that seems to have decided to make my home their home. I have a bee keeper coming this morning, so wish me luck!

Finished!

Finally, finally, finally finished Sebastian Book #11.

That's right; it STILL doesn't have a proper title. I came up with one I liked, but the Powers That Be didn't like it, and I must admit I wasn't wild about it myself. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to come up with anything they like any better, and I'm terrified that I'm going to get stuck with something awful.

I already have the idea for #12 swirling around in my head, but it's going on the back burner while I take care of all the things I had to shove to the side during the last final push to get this thing done. This one ran a little long for reasons I will never quite understand. You'd think after writing eleven Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries--and more than twenty books all together--I'd be able to gauge a manuscript's length better, but obviously not.

And now I'm off to play with a kitten--who isn't so little any more!

Sometimes, Life Sucks

It's been a bad week. I had a close encounter of the clumsy kind with a tree branch and tried to poke out my right eye. I'd show you the lovely picture of me with half the side of my face bandaged, but the Internets are forever, so it ain't gonna happen. The good news is that it will hopefully be all right in the end. But I haven't managed to get much done over the last ten days or so because eyes are rather important to a writer.  I was able to devote some of those hours I spent lying in a darkened room with my eyes closed to plotting out my next book, though, so it wasn't a complete loss.

And then, probably because I was so stressed, I came down with a nasty respiratory infection. (And don't even get me started on my mom's house!) Hopefully things will sort themselves out in a few days. In the meantime, that's a picture of Indie eating the manuscript for Sebastian # 11. Yes, he still doesn't have  home of his own, and this manuscript still doesn't have a title. Maybe September will be better.

Oops, I Did It Again--UPDATE

He just showed up at my door the other night, a little eight week old kitten. Who dumps a tiny kitten?

I tried to say no. Oh, I gave him some food and fixed up a sheltered box for him to sleep in, but I have no room in my house for any more cats.

He's as cute and sweet as can be. I walk out the house and call him, and he comes on the run, meowing all the way. We've named him Indiana Jones because he's intrepid and adventuresome. He has a vet appointment in the morning, but he really, really needs a proper home. Anyone?

UPDATE: So he went to the vet this morning. Passed his AIDS and leukemia tests, but there is no test for distemper so he's going to be in quarantine in the big crate in the garage for the next 2 weeks (no more climbing trees, poor guy). He has ear mites, fleas, and worms, which we will be treating while he's in isolation. Otherwise the vet says he's strong and healthy and just 8 weeks old. He loves to be petted and purrs his heart out. He's a real sweetheart.