What Will You Be Writing in 2010?

I'm baaaaaa-aaack!

Didja miss me?

No, my return to the blog doesn't mean that I'm writing for MTV Books again, but as Jenn has assured me time and again, once an MTV Books author, always an MTV Books author. So with that in mind, here I be. All happy and excited because I've just completed a dream of a move across the country from Florida to Seattle, Washington and it's as glorious as I expected it to be. I'm also happy and excited because on November 23rd, my novel, WHEN THE STARS GO BLUE is going to be released. The road for this novel has been long and twisty and fraught with more drama than any soap opera or family reunion you've ever attended, but it's finally happening and I'm so incredibly happy. (I just saw the early version of my cover and OMG, I can't wait until I can go public with it because it is sooooo amazingly beautiful. I cried like a baby when the email popped into my box.)

So first order of business will be finishing my revisions which are due very soon. However, after that, I get to turn to new writing, which brings me back to this month's question of what will I be writing this year. Well, first up on my list is finishing the women's fiction manuscript I've been pecking away at for the last couple of years. It's hard because it's set in the sixties which presents the challenge of it being somewhat historical but it's a time period for which we have a lot of documentation in forms that haven't existed for other historical eras. There aren't just books and newspapers, and scholarly texts but we have film and television and music and more magazines than you can shake a stick at. Plus, so many different angles to explore, the real trick is remaining very focused and not meandering.

But I'm actually in the homestretch of that manuscript, so hopefully, it'll be done relatively soon (she says very, very hopefully...). Which leaves me with starting a brand new project. For the first time in nearly two years. Oh... what to write? I have so many ideas, it's like a smorgasbord! There are a couple of YA projects I've had tickling the back of my brain, and a couple of really interesting women's fiction ideas, one of which just kicked me like a cranky donkey the other day. I was surfing my regular news feeds and saw an intriguing headline. Clicked on it and OMG, discovered an awesome story idea about letters and forbidden love and all that good stuff. Definitely one to keep on file.

So, I don't even know exactly which one I'm going to write yet, but I do know that in my new home, in the incredibly creative, inspiring surroundings in which I've found myself, I'm gonna have a great time figuring it out.

It's good to be home.

(And yes, that picture is the view from my backyard. See what I mean about inspiring?)