My next project has arrived

I don't own this photo; I just grabbed it off Google Images to toss together a quick image which conveys the mood of my next story I am anxious to get started on...



As I am wrapping up the revision process for Emerald Cave, somewhere in the back of my mind I am always thinking, "What the hell am I going to write next?" I read blog after blog of other authors who have a little folder on their computer where they record their ideas for future projects, but I had nothing! Well, that's not totally true...I have notes for the next Emerald Cave book written down...images and scenes and ideas for Denim and Ravenna, and OODLES of notes for the next three books in the Elliot Lake series, but an entirely different idea? I had nothing.

Until this weekend.

On January 1st, my husband and I drove with our kids to Long Beach, Washington. It was freezing and not exactly the perfect day to go to the beach, but it wasn't raining, and we had a nice drive through the country, along the water, hit some candy stores, ate veggie burgers and fries for lunch... and when we were driving back, we passed a bead store.

The name "Billy" has been swimming around my head for a few weeks now. I wasn't sure who he was or what story he'd show up in, but I just love that name and knew he would show up eventually. When I saw that sign for the bead shop, I thought, "Billy Bead. Billy Bead. I like that." And then I saw the church, which I need to go back and get photos of, because it is a helluva lot more beat up than the stolen church photo above...but I kept thinking, "How cool would it be to live in an old church?" The church I saw, though, was beyond habitable. I thought, "No one would be living in there except ghosts." And my story was born.

Since then I've been doing the thing where I have to drop what I'm doing every 15 minutes and write down another thought, image, impression, or idea about Billy Bead. It makes getting the dishes down pretty difficult, darn it.

Suffice it to say, the abandoned church is in the story, as is a ghost of a man with a curse on his head, the witch who put it there, the beautiful Cicily, and love, loss, and forgiveness.

I am so excited. This is the first book that has zoomed into my head soooooo complete. I may even write an outline for this one! (take THAT pantsers!!)

Peace and keep reading!