By George I Think I've Finally Got It

By golly I think I finally got it. I finally finished the last chapter of my latest Luke and Jenny book, Riding With the James Gang. I could have sworn I first started working on it back in 2007, but according to Microsoft Word the file was first created on August 8, 2008. I know that's not right, but that's about the time my old computer up and died on me and I had to get a new one.

I don't know why this book has been so danged hard for me to write. Not that the earlier Luke and Jenny books were easy. I'm writing for young readers, about 8 to 10 years old, which means I have to take a lot of complicated history and break it down into a simple, storybook format. Believe it or not that does take a lot of time and thought. And in the middle of that life happens. Between other jobs, two doxies, and all my friends things get hectic and it can be hard to make the time to write. Then I have to wait for my muse to show up. Sometimes creative ideas will come to me at the weirdest times. Like five minutes before I have to leave the house to go someplace. Or just as I'm starting to doze off at the end of an exhausting day. And I've learned the hard way that if I don't stop and write the ideas down as soon as they hit me I'll lose them forever. The creative process can be a strange thing.

The manuscript is off to the editor. More later,


GM