Moving the flywheel, a little at a time

This week I've been working a ton on three different projects related to writing. 

1. Wait for the Lightning. We asked a handful of people to be beta readers a month or so ago, and this week we started collecting feedback from those readers. Lots of affirmation and some important tweaks are happening in this project. We're on track to launch the Kickstarter for this book on March 6. (Sign up here if you haven't already. By signing up for the prelaunch page, you're sure not to miss the campaign, and it also helps get more exposure as Kickstarter realizes that people are eager to support this book.) Lisa has been deep into this project the last few days, having conversations, evaluating feedback, and holding the project in her head. She's an amazing partner in this work. 

2. The sequel to Death on Disappointment Mountain. I'm working hard to finish the first draft of this novel. The most frequent question I've had from readers has been, "Will you write a sequel?" The answer is an enthusiastic YES. Yesterday I passed the 60K word mark. That means the book is coming into the home stretch. I'll probably write about 90K words before I'm done, and then edit it back to around 80K. I'm excited about this story. Goal is to finish the first draft sometime in late March or early April. My guess is that the book itself will be available early this summer. 

3. Working on an updated website. One of my daughters has been helping with this. The new website should go public in a week or so. It will still include blog posts for those of you who've followed me in this way. You'll also be able to buy books direct from us on the new website, sign up for email lists, communicate directly with me via email, and more. 

Of course there are other things happening as well. We took the horses out for a delightful ride yesterday and got a bunch of barn cleaning done. This week we firmed up agreements with a few contractors for our house move that is scheduled to happen in May. 

I hope it comes through in these blog posts just how much I'm enjoying myself these days. God is so good, and I'm so grateful for the people he has placed in my life. Of course there are challenges. Life can be brutal sometimes. But joy is available if you set your heart that direction and live with a gratitude mindset. The fact that you are reading this blog post is one of the things that brings me great joy. Thanks for being here!