Hi there! If you’re a parent, I hope back-to-school time has been going well.

My crew will all be back at their desks on Tuesday, so we’re soaking up the last few days of summer…mostly by scrambling to order the school supplies I should’ve gotten by now!

On the story front, I have the bones of the novel set, which feels good. However, there are still lots of details to fill in. I’ve learned the hard lesson that my book will only be as good as my outline is. So, while I’m excited with the direction that the story is going, I want to flesh it out more before I start writing. There’s nothing like wandering 100 pages into a manuscript and then throwing the whole thing away because it’s garbage. Agony!

In just a few more days, our house will be way too quiet but it’ll be helpful for mulling things over. Some things I’ll dig deeper into are: what motivates each character, what he or she needs to feel and learn by the end of the book, and what needs to happen to get them to where they need to be…that is, if they ever do decide to make those changes (!) Putting together the outline is always hard for me, but it feels so good when it’s done. Like running, I hear.

So best of luck finding those last, hard-to-find school supply items–for me, it was notebooks for some reason–and I hope you have a wonderful start to fall!

Meg