lightening up

Summer is nearly here. It is quite evident in that Zailey's color has been lightening up.

All winter and into the spring, Zailey had gotten quite dark. More black and brown showed than white. Then seemingly overnight, more white than the dark colors is showing in her coat.

I am not happy about this transition. I thought the darker colors made her look quite distinguished. She was a pretty dog. Now, not so much.

There is another reason I'm not happy with the change. Any time an animal changes color, the old color is lost somewhere. I'm sure most of it is in my carpets.

As Tech Fear is nearing completion, I feel a lightening up of my soul. I am happy about how it is turning out. The last chapters are going to be a breeze to write.

Of course, work is nowhere close to being done. There are some massive edits in its future, but I love reading over the first draft. I think the sequel to Alien Fear is as good as the first book.

The decision to have a third book in the Fear series has not been made. I feel like I need a break from Alex, Melanie, Wally, and all the rest of the characters in both books. Instead, I'll be going in a different direction.

After writing the short story Flaming Curse for Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories, I had an inkling that this story wasn't done. I kept thinking about the story, but was too busy to really figure out where the story was heading. I came up with an idea for what happens after the short story ended about the time the collection was published, but not how the continuation ended.

Then yesterday, I figured it all out. The entire story just seemed to write itself in outline form. Some of the ideas came to me at times over the last month. I couldn't quit thinking of this story. So I think this will be what I will be working on after Tech Fear.

As things lighten up for Zailey and I, it just shows how cyclical things can be. In a matter of months, Zailey will be getting darker again and I'll be writing another novel.