Well, when midnight strikes tonight, ‘Rising from the Ashes’ will go live.  In the meantime, I am writing frantically on the next book that will follow it, ‘Hidden Kingdoms’.  I won’t say it has been an easy write, as it does not follow in the direction that it seemed that ‘Rising from the Ashes’ was taking us, but ‘Spirit of the Light’, which will follow, will take us more in that line once more.  A lot is happening in that novel and novella, and it should be interesting to see where the Elves are heading.  At the same time, ‘The General continues to spread its tale, and it is quite the story.  Gabriella is not your ordinary Elven maiden by any stretch of the imagination, and she feels she is in the fight of her life.  She also recognizes the wisdom of the old saying that sometimes it is a good thing to retreat from a battle to fight another day, or another that says if you can’t beat them, join them.  Some battles are easier than others if there is nothing evil involved.

What of the bratz you ask?  They seem to have settled in for the winter, although there are times when Thena drives me crazy with the way she likes to run in circles every time she gets excited about something.  I swear, when that happens, Tath looks at her and rolls his eyes.  They like me to go to bed at about the same time, or earlier, nag if I don’t go down for an afternoon nap so they can join me… sometimes it sucks to be a pussycat.  At night, Thena scoots under the cover first.  Her place is beside me, with her head placed on the pillow beside mine.  Tath is more hesitant about going under and always waits… result, he who hesitates gets what is left over.  His place is to curl up under the blanket and cuddle in against my stomach.  If Thena doesn’t lay in the right place, and part of her body intrudes on his territory, he tunes her up… that is his spot.  By morning, they are sleeping side by side under the cover, and they both have their heads on the pillow next to mine.  Tath is always the first one up, and he brings the larger pompoms, cause those are his. 

I am looking at edits this upcoming week… which means that ‘The Phoenixes Choice’ only has a proofread to go through after this.  Should be interesting.  Eniko is working on ‘Teryka Rose’ as she has time, and we will see how that goes.  Everyone is busy, especially at this time of the year.  I have ‘Final contact’ and ‘People of the Phoenix’ in the sidelines, waiting their turn, with ‘Hidden Kingdoms’ and ‘Spirit of the Light’ expected to be added to the pile before the end of the year.  ‘The General’ is coming, but has a long way to go.  Either way, I can see I have a lot of typing coming up, as I am 10 chapters behind in my typing from where I am writing.  I figure I have another 10 chapters to write to finish my novel, and around 12 to do on ‘Spirit of the Light’.  I can then settle down to rework them before they get moved on, or set aside to age before they are sent into the void that exists between reworking and edits. 

Anyone notice there is only a couple weeks before Christmas!  I am beginning to notice it, and have noticed a general lack of spirit.  All I can see before me is ‘The Princess’ and chapter II is looming in all its mischievous grandeur.  You have to love those Eagle Claw children when they get ideas about what is expected from them though.  ‘The Priestess’ will be set in a different area of the Empire, the valley, where there are no Eagle Claw children.  But, it will still be a full book.  Britallia might think there is limits to what her station in life will allow, but Talus is determined to show her differently, if only she wasn’t such a tease.  I am thinking of releasing more than one of the Guardians of the Empire novels each year.  Of course this means more work for me.  Then again, if I manage to get these two books written, along with ‘Angelika Leanne’, before summer next year, I will be able to cruise through that season with only reworking to do, and might be able to celebrate the fact that in late fall I can start on a new book for the Tantalus United Series.  Ever notice how it is so much easier to make plans than to follow through on them? 

Well, with that in mind, it is time I got my head out of the clouds and got things moving here.  So, until next week, be good, Santa is getting closer to filling his bag, and there might only be coal for your sock in it… as that is a frowned on commodity, it is maybe not such a good thing to have any more.