Wow, a lot has happened since I last wrote an entry here. I have officially retired from my day job, so I can focus on homeschooling the kiddos AND (theoretically) work on my writing project. “And there was much rejoicing!”

The writing… is a bit stalled right now. In the midst of my fourth revision of my ”Shieldmaiden” project, it dawned on me that there were aspects of the plot and character development that did not sit well with me, even after tweaking, expanding, and cutting other aspects of the story. The more I tried to edit the fourth draft, the more uneasy I became until I finally realized why I was unhappy. The story started in the middle and jumped to the end. I needed more time to explore the mythos and fully grow the world I was creating.

At which point, I realized, I wanted Shieldmaiden to be a series. So, I’m in the world-building phase for a series now, and likely will be for the next several months.* Wish me luck!

*Note: If you ask me how my writing is going and I look at you blankly, it’s because I still haven’t decided how to answer that question, and am likely experiencing of sporadic moment of terror ”I haven’t started! I’m still researching! Am I doing that thing where I’ll research forever because I like to research? Should I start writing already? But I still have 10 more books I want to read on Icelandic and Nordic myths and sagas! They probably don’t want to hear about my research methodology or the process I’m taking to world building. I wonder, should I have the mythological characters speak in Old Norse or Icelandic? If so, where are my Old Norse language books so I can brush op on that… Oh, wait, someone asked me a question…. I’ll just say ‘I’m in the brainstorming process.’”