First of all, a heads up that there is a group interview with some of the Bloodstones authors (including me) live at Erin Underwood’s blog, Underworlds.

Secondly, I know I have been somewhat absent about these parts.  I burned out pretty hard after finishing the draft of Never, both  physically and mentally.   I started to get sick, and kept getting sick with recurrent respiratory infections (I’m having to pause to cough and splutter here while typing).  The kid got sick, too, and so did the husband, both with a pretty nasty flu.

I tried to work on a few short stories, without success, then tried to do some novel outlining.  It got to the point where I could barely string a sentence together, and I was cringing every time I thought of reading.

It’s kind of ridiculous how long it takes to recognise that depression is taking over again.

I had been trying, with some success, to come off medication.  I guess that success was short-lived, because I’m now back on the meds and feeling much more motivated about everything.  I’ve been reading again, and am working on getting back in the writing groove.

I’ve admitted that the current novel I’ve been trying to outline, Wintersun (previously entitled The White Raven) isn’t quite ready to come forth yet.  I have a bunch of research I need to do, and in the meanwhile, I’ve unearthed an old novel of mine, Shaede, to work on again.  It’s an exercise in seeing how much I’ve developed as a writer, if nothing else.  Not sure what the plan is going to be with this one, but for now, it’s fun being back in that world again.