DION - Finished and Up for Publication! Woot!

     The book ended up being 385 pages and 33 chapters long. I finished it, and after I read the last chapter, I decided to add another one. It wasn't all that finished until the woman was living inside the house she had inherited, because she had fought so hard for it.  In the end, she is satisfied with her efforts, and that makes me happy.

    I'll tell you something else that happens when you spend so much time with these people living inside your head: you can't seem to stop listening to them talk about their problems, solutions, issues, and whatever else they decide to discuss. I'll be at Sam's buying dog food, and all of a sudden, I'll hear the voice of Jack Abercrombie behind me asking if that's the right choice; maybe I should consider the dog's palate.  Jack is such a prat!

    I won't tell you what happens to Jack in the book, but something devastating does happen to him. I read and re-read what I wrote, and I began to tear up. I realized then that Jack was probably going to hang around for a while, much like Mathew from "The" does. They don't have a thing in common, but they'll end up getting to know one another if they're floating around my office space long enough.

    I need to add a dog personality to the next novel. I do have one in the Nick Posh series, but the ladies in my novels, who tend to be on the move, don't really have time for dogs. After saying that, I realized that Jule from Bay Sorrel Ranch bought a ranch. She has time for dogs. She has a few, but I should have dug deeper into their personalities and shone a little light on them. I will next time, I promise.

    Actually, the next novel outside of the Posh books will feature a male lead - oh my.  He's in his mid-to-late twenties and seeking to find his beginnings. He was stolen at birth and raised across the waterways from where he should have been. Believing himself to be a bastard without any hope of a real future with the woman he has fallen in love with, he decides to find the truth about who he really is. Whether or not the findings will satisfy her father, he has to try.

    He won't have a dog either, not if he's expected to cross the seas and fight this or that sworn enemy on his long and arduous quest to regain and discover his legacy. Oh well, I'll find a place for the dog, even if I have to write a book from the dog's point of view, which, no, I don't want to do that, sorry, yeah, no. I'll make something happen. I have a few books to go - keep reading!

    This year, 2025, will see "Stratford", "Dion", "Cask", Legacy", and probably "Shadow" being written. Then, in early 2026, I'll write "Kingdom," "Slick," "Tulsa," and "Death Mask" for sure... It's good to have a plan. I just realized that "Slick" will be a novel I can stick a good dog in and make it stick! It'll have to be a rescue-- and it might be a mutt; pretty sure it's going to be a mutt. Oh, and yeah, Leigh has a dog in "The" so we're good!

    "Dion" will be sent up tomorrow for its first publication, which means I'll run one copy, review it for mistakes, correct those mistakes, and allow it to be purchased around or on May 7, 2025. Woot!  Here's the new cover. I had to redo it since it was 35 pages thicker than what I first thought it would be.

Photo Credit: Me.