The end of a cycle, adapting to changes, getting back on the horse - zuchinni oven fries to make transitions easier

These past two weeks have surely flown by! And not in an easy, breezy manner, at all. Last week was my son's final one at his current school, next year he starts at a new cycle, which means changing schools. So it was a bit of an emotional one, saying goodby to some of his school friends who won't be attending the same school, saying goodbye to a teacher who's been with him for the past four years and that he adores, the school party, the grades, the excitement of holidays, it was all a powder keg waiting to explode, and of course it did, explode in a few tears wrapped up in his mother's arms, while she joined in the fun - I am far too emotional for my own sake aha!!

It's been turmoil and chaos, lately, hard work and crazyness, time seems to just run through my fingers while I get nothing done - honestly, when I look at all I've tackled week to week, I do wonder what on earth have I been doing with myself that I managed to tackle so little!! But the truth is, in the end, we all do what we can. I don't know about other writers, but I seem to have such a hard time saying goodbye to certain stories, certain characters, and plunge into other plots. I've been going through that lately, it's been very hard extricating myself from my Blood Trilogy! Although I was happy to have left it alone after writing "BLOOD", which was to be a stand alone novella, the moment the idea for "SCARS" came into mind and changed what I had thought I'd do for "MARIANNE", I was wrapped up in that universe to the point of obsession.

I mean, I just can't seem to pull my head away from the Nilsson twins and their story, from Marianne Stirling and Nora Bell, and plunge myself back in the lives of Arthur, Morgan le Fay, Guinevere and Merlin. It's been vary hard getting back to writing while I'm still living inside another story and can't cut the chord binding me to those other characters. Maybe I'll be able to sever myself from them once the final novel is done and ready for publication, I'm already on the final re-read, formatting has been handled - took my a whole day of banging my head and things going wrong, as they always do - the teasers are made, the graphs too, all it needs is being put out there, but that'll have to wait until September. It will alsoe be my last release of this year, and in a while. I have eight books out already, and honestly, promoting them all has been such hard work, I've been neglecting some of them. If I just keep putting books out, it will only pile up, so I'm taking a break to market those already available and even out any new releases through a larger amount of time.

And to have new material that eventually deserves to be released, I need to get back to writing. Right now, I think my mindset has been rather silly - after the Blood Trilogy, I got it into my head I will never ever write anything this good, with characters that are this great. See, they're all so flawed, so weak and so strong, damaged and hopeful. They're survivors and fighters, but also weak and damaged,  self centred and selfish, but capable of intense acts of love and loyalty. I really like these characters, and the plot of the books, I also love the way I've written them, and don't think I can ever produce anything as good. So I've been holding back on my writing, and have been scared of going back to another series that perhaps won't live up to this one, mostly because it uses characters that are part of world wide imaginary - everyone has their own version of Arthurian lore, right? It's been hard to convince myself I'm doing a great job there, and doing those characters justice. Hopefully, I can get into the right mindset and go on with it, because I want to dive into another project that's been haunting my head lately.

As for now, I'll leave you with these, my latest addiction. Oven baked zuchinni fries. I can't seem to get enough of them, they're so addictive! You may notice I have no photos of the finished product, that's because they just don't last long enough for me to photograph them, me and kiddo gobble them down piping hot. And they're just so easy to make, all you need is:1 large zuchinni, sliced thinlyras-el-hanoutsaltcayenne pepperturmericpowdered garlicolive oilCover a baking tray with baking parchment. In a bowl, mix the zuchinni slices with the spices and olive oil, then spread them over the baking parchment. Bake on a pre-heated oven at 170º until they're looking crisp and bubbling away, allow to cool for a few seconds - or burn your fingers and tongue like I do - and serve. They are addictive, so be warned!