I'm between books...

...so it's finally time to set up a blog.

Book news:

The Gotcha Gods is is coming out in the spring of 08! Hurray! Those wonderful people at Orca Book Publishers agreed to publish it, my 7th book. This one will be dedicated to my daughter Cara who has waited patiently for her book. (I often worried that there would be no 7th book, and then Cara would be my only daughter who wouldn't get one. How could I live with that?)

It's fitting that this one is for Cara as it's based on a grad game (The Bead Game) they play at the highschool she graduated from. She was deep in the throes of the game while I was writing it, so I was able to slide many real life incidents right into the book. But it is a book of fiction, thank goodness. The Gotcha Game (as I renamed it) in my book gets way creepier than it does in real life (I hope!) although I have seen my normally sane daughters turn into paranoid, quivering wrecks during the bead game.

I think I'll launch the book with a Gotcha party, where we play a toned down version of the game at home. I love games.

Sister Wife is written and submitted, and now I go through the long, agonizing wait to see whether anyone will be brave enough to publish it. It is based on a girl growing up in a community where polygamy is the norm (men with multiple wives). As the story opens my protagonist is turning 15 so will soon be assigned to a husband, a much older man, but she's not happy about this. This was a completely different kind of book for me, and it took many years to complete. I think I wrote 2 other books during the writing of Sister Wife. I kept putting it aside, and then picking it up again. I was emotionally drained when I finally completed it. Cross your fingers for me on this one.

An amazing thing happened when I finished Sister Wife. The two other members of my writing group, Diane Tullson and Kim Denman completed novels on the very same day! How strange and wonderful is that?

I should start writing a new book right away, but for now I'm content to enjoy summer, putter in my garden, go on extended hikes, and maybe even sail a little, if the engine on the boat ever gets repaired.

That brings me to the Meandering Muse part of this post. A few days ago The Vancouver Sun posted a list of Steps to Greater Happiness compiled by psychologist Mark Holder. One of the steps was to Reclaim your spirituality. "Go to worship, pray, meditate or watch a sunset. Lie on a blanket in the yard to look at the stars and gaze with awe up on the universe."

Always one to do as I'm told, especially in the pursuit of happiness, a group of us set sail in 3 boats last Saturday night. We never actually see the sun set in Deep Cove because of the mountains so the idea was to anchor together in a bay where we could watch it set over Vancouver Island and then sit back and ponder the stars. In the end, we almost watched the sunrise as well as the sunset as our motor died on the way back to the marina. Thank goodness for our dear friends on one of the other boats who noticed we had not returned so turned around and towed us home.

Did this bring me happiness? It sure did. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. (And the sunset was spectacular too.)

Namaste