Absence, they say, makes the heart grow fonder…or is that “absence makes the heart a’wander?” Either way, just a note to let all my friends know that, no, I didn’t get eaten by my novel.

So what’s happening? First, the sad news.

1. I still haven’t snagged an agent, though one partial is still out.
2. Norman Riffe died, an honorable, ethical, delightful gentleman. I’ll miss him.

And the good news is:

1. We’re moving into a beautiful new house that’s three times the size of the one we presently occupy. The flip side of the joy is, the whole garden has to be dug up, potted, and transported, then reset into its new home.
2. I was invited into an absolutely wonderful writer’s critique circle. Not only can I just concentrate on writing and critiquing in an interface and application that is nicely intuitive and responsive to the needs of the activity, but my three critique partners are phenomenal writers with a no-holds barred, refreshing honesty.
3. And, last, my next novel is hot on the trail toward completion.

That’s the news. Now I have to catch up on my reading around here.

Have a good one.

Recently:

• They Work Very Hard
• Treading the Dangers of Fiction
• Infighting About Grammar & Punctuation
• Scary Writers
• New Novel, Chapter Two
• To the Book Store
• New Novel Amid Chaos
• Raw Gore, Explicit Cruelty, Debased Sex in Novels
• Back from Summer Hiatus
• Self-Publishing IS Better