The New Book (Update)

I can't believe I haven't written anything on my blog since March. Life has been crazy busy.

I've been asked several times lately about the book and if it will be published soon. I realized I haven't given an update in quite some time.

I thought I would publish my next book by spring. April was my target. In March I thought I had an "almost finished" manuscript that only needed one more copy edit for typos and possibly a few word changes here and there. (That, and a cover.) I expected to have both manuscript and cover ready to go by the end of April. But it didn't happen. I had to put the book on hold.

We have been living in a leased condo since moving to WV and in March we had an opportunity to buy a house. We got very busy choosing paint colors, organizing work to be done, preparing to move. We had already moved a lot of our things into the condo, but we still had furniture and personal items in TN. I had a trip to the beach planned with my kids for late April before I knew we would be moving in May. And we had a cruise on our schedule in May. I think it was some time in April when I started to think I might have to postpone releasing my book. It was also in late April when I started to think I might want to make a few further changes to the content of the book.

After returning from our cruise on May 25, I had to make a trip to Nashville to meet the movers who would load up the rest of our things. I returned to WV for the arrival of the truck and then the same movers moved our condo belongings into the house. I was exhausted and had boxes everywhere. But my cousin's wedding was June 1 and even though I had a legitimate reason to miss it, I couldn't stand the thought of not being there. So I drove to Mt. Carmel, Illinois the same weekend we moved. It was almost seven hours each way. I drove there Saturday. The wedding was Saturday night. And I drove home Sunday. One week after the move we had more traveling; John's regular doctor appointment in Nashville, WV Auto Dealers meeting at The Greenbrier, and finally a Honda Finance golf event in Charlotte.

Everything that's keeping me busy is good. I'm thankful for the wonderful, busy life God has blessed me with. I'm thankful I've been able to travel with John for business and pleasure. And I'm very thankful to be in a home of our own again! But my busy life has left me with absolutely no time to focus on publishing a book.

For the last few weeks I have been extremely busy trying to get settled. Unpacking boxes, hanging pictures, cleaning, shopping for stuff, looking for items you can't remember what you did with! I've accomplished a lot, but still have plenty more to do. And then this past Saturday I put all of that on hold when I picked up two of my grandsons and brought them home with me for a two week stay while their mommy, daddy and brother Andrew traveled out of state to go welcome their new (adopted) baby sister into the world!

Baby Madeline Grace was born yesterday, July 1. And we are all very excited about her arrival. Finally, we have a little girl! I can't wait till the kids are back in TN and I can go meet her and hold her for the first time! I will make another trip to Nashville once I know they are on their way home. And I hope to be able to spend a few days.

I don't even have to tell you how hectic it's been since Joshua and Pax (7 and 3) have been here. And when I get back from taking them home, I'll have more family coming to visit us the last week of July, followed by another trip to Nashville for a routine doctor visit. And then my mother-in-law plans to come see us for a week or two in August. So I don't expect to have any down time whatsoever this whole summer. Which is fine with me. It will be a great summer, just a very busy summer.

In the midst of all this busyness, I am trying not to forget responsibilities for our church bulletin and the website (failing miserably at times). I have pictures that need to be loaded onto the website from last week's VBS. And I have a stack of sermons from May and June that need to be uploaded to the website's podcast. I was home all day yesterday with the kids because it was a rainy day. But the boys kept me so occupied that I never thought to do it. And by the time they went to bed, I barely had the energy to exercise before taking a hot shower and falling into bed.

All that to say, I have not had any time to focus on my book even a little bit. I've had to put it on the back burner while focusing on my life. But I think the book will ultimately be better because of the break.

My life should settle down a bit by September. So my plan is to go through my manuscript one last time, putting the finishing touches on it, and publish it in October. A friend reminded me last week that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. That is the perfect month to publish this book. What I thought of as the final manuscript in March has already been edited and typeset. I hope that my editor will have time in his schedule to review it and create new files for me (print and kindle versions) at that time. He's gone on to other projects while I've had to put my book on hold.

I also have to have a cover done. And I've had a hard time with this cover. I just don't have as clear a vision for this one as I did the first book. I have an artist working with some creative ideas and I may possibly have an opportunity to do a photo shoot in some scenic WV locations nearby before the summer is over. I'm hoping between the two to come up with the perfect cover. And even though it's barely July, I know October will be here in a flash. Time is just flying by so quickly these days.

There have been so many blog posts I have wanted to write lately and have not gotten around to writing them because my life has been so full. I'm enjoying my life more than ever. And I'm not complaining about being busy. It's all good. But I hope to eventually get back to writing again. I miss it. I almost look forward to winter ... slowing down and having time to read as well as write.

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