Greetings from Montana!

Check out the view from my brother's patio - not bad, eh? What you don't see is the 360 degree panorama that surrounds this beautiful plateau on which his house is perched in the hills outside of Missoula. If you ever think about running away to the country - run here. (Although at the moment there is a mountain lion alert as one has been spotted in the area and appears to be habituated to people and therefore a possible threat...so now I've got a new excuse not to jog... ;-)

Anyway, back to writing as a topic: Though in real life my brother is a world-renowned avian evolutionary ecologist, he is also one of my beta readers for my YA novels, as well as my number one cheerleader throughout my pursuit of a writing career. My husband and daughter and I are here, along with my parents, to celebrate my brother's birthday - so yay! for Tommy!

Speaking of beta reading, he has just finished reading DARK SHADOWS, the sequel to my debut novel, THE FAERIE RING and shared some great comments. I've got a little bit of work to do on that before I ship it off to my agent and editor to read and then I'm back to work on my newest novel.

I love starting a new WIP, discovering my characters, their personalities and imagining the worlds in which they live. There's a great article over on The Enchanted Inkpot about the X factor in characers. Read it here, or catch up on debut author Michelle Zink's new release PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS, which sounds totally awesome.

What traits do you like to see in a hero or heroine? Who is your favorite main character that as the X factor?

Patience and Steampunk

Yay! I finally got to talk to my fabulous editor, Susan Chang, about THE FAERIE RING today and she was just as lovely as I imagined her to be. It's so exciting, yet surreal, to actually be talking to a real live editor about MY book.

I am, of course, READY to dive into revisions and get this party started, but alas, as with ALL things publishing related, speed is never involved. It seems there are several other books that need Susan's attention before mine and therefore, don't expect an editorial revision letter for a couple of months.

Oh.

Well, when opportunity knocks, I open the door, so I figure this is the perfect chance to write my NEXT book, which is going to be steampunk, set in London, approx 1895. The title is ENIGMA. My protagonist is Jack Bailey, commonly known on the street as Blackjack Bailey. He's up and got himself invited to attend the Westgate College for Boys, Academy for the Gifted. Head over to my website here and read the opening under "What I'm Writing Now."

My goal is to have a first draft done by the end of October. Want to come along for the ride?

How about you? What are you writing and when are you shooting to have it completed?