Book Four is up for Pre-Order at Amazon.  I'm taking care of the behind the scenes stuff for launching a book.  I'm also starting to work on book five!

The Emptiness is off being proofread!  Once they're done, it's on to the beta readers.

Oooh.  That's a good one.  To be honest, I was pondering Israel, and how hard it is for an entire nation of people to hold up their end of a covenant.  Then I started wondering what would happen in a fallen world if the covenant were made with a single family?  And then I really started wondering, what would happen when God's Son came to that fallen world, to die for their sins?  A family that was really walking closely with God would recognize the Messiah they had been waiting for, and if they were in charge, how could the Messiah end up dying?

So, those were the questions I set out to explore when I started The Milana Legends.  This was so deeply buried in my head, that when I chose the colors for the imperial family, I picked the same blue and white that Israel uses, without realizing it!  

I am on the last major pass through The Emptiness.  A crazy idea occurred to me, that perhaps, just maybe, if I handed each finished chapter off to my three older kids, they might encourage me to get on with it.

Those three are quite the variety, being one school aged, one middle school, and one high school.  But, yeah, I was not expecting the amount of help I would get.  Because, let me tell you, there are also two little ones who know zip about writing and authors and the like, who need naps and entertaining if I am to make any progress.
I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, to be honest.  I often ponder how C.S. Lewis would bring down the next chapter of The Horse and His Boy, and read it to the boys who became his stepsons.  How exciting that must have been!  And now, I have a teensy idea why he might have done that...  I bet it was waaaay quieter when Jack went up to his study if they were anxiously waiting the next chapter.

I totally enjoyed my spring sabbatical, but I am just bursting to write!  I have sewn, drawn, knitted, and sat in the sun.  I have planted trees and pulled weeds.  I have read and snuggled and tickled and laughed and re-charged.

And through all that, Milana bubbled to the surface, more and more, like a pot of water coming to boil.  So that's what I'm working on this summer: The Emptiness, The Milana Legends, Part Four.  I gotta go... the kettle is whistling. ;)