Hot Diggity Dog! (Still Working on Book Three)

I know I've mentioned before that I get great ideas in the shower. One of my cousins gave me a waterproof notepad and pencil to keep in the shower once. It was pretty awesome. But my latest plot twist comes courtesy of a nap. Now, I rarely get to take naps anymore. Between working full time, school full time, and doing this on the side as well as church obligations, I just have a hard time squeezing in a nap. And let's be honest. I'm not letting go off all my video game time. I NEED IT.

Anyway, I allowed myself a nap over the Labor Day weekend. As I hovered between blissful dreamland and the waking world, a thought came to me - a solution to the end battle in book three that has been haunting me since I wrote the first draft. "Okay," I said to myself. "I can work on that later. Nap now." But what ended up happening is that I laid there for the entire time I set aside for a nap working out details in my head until the timer went off. No nap, but it was worth it.

Soooo... that invigorated my book three writing. Of course, I am also in the middle of a second draft of my next book under my Kassie Ward pen name (yes, I am the same person, but it's a different genre) so both are slow-going, unfortunately. And this week, I have an exam, a discussion thread, and a report to write as well as making progress on a research paper due at the end of class.

Someone at work told me they don't know how I'm keeping up with everything. I looked at her and said in a pitifully whiny voice, "I'm so tired."

Always with the Traveling Adventures

As a kid, my family used to visit Myrtle Beach at least once a year in the summer. We practically grew up thinking that was a life requirement. As an adult, my mom and I (in separate houses) lived in North Myrtle for a few years. But life gets crazy, and I haven't been to any American beach in YEARS so I've been overdue. To celebrate a break in my online classes, I rented an Airbnb in Saint Helena Island, South Carolina (I love Airbnb, by the way).

If you've read my blog posts on any sort of regular basis (which might be hard since I'm so bad about posting regularly), you know that I never had an uneventful trip.

Now, let me preface everything else by saying this: I had a great weekend! I loved Saint Helena Island and can't wait to go back. It's quiet and peaceful. It's remote enough that I lost cellphone signal in the house here and there. Just beautiful and amazing. My misadventures are not a reflection on this beautiful location or its friendly residents.

Having said that, if I believed in such things, I would say I'm cursed by the travel gods. Early in the week, I started watching the weather. Slight chance of rain. By midweek, it looked better. By Thursday, rain seemed inevitable but scattered. "Okay," I told myself. "It'll still be okay."

Friday night, my friend and I loaded into the car after work and started the three hour drive. Through rain. And more rain. Then even more rain. The house was beautiful and the screened in patio magnificent which I thought was a plus since I figured we would be seeing it a lot over the weekend.

My friend and I decided we'd just take a walk in the morning on the beach even if the weather wouldn't permit swimming. Rain. Maybe we'd go to the state park. Rain. Let's try going into historic Beaufort to shop. Rain stopped. Therefore, I decree that the shopping was condoned by the travel gods (if I believed in them), and we had to do it.

Historic Beaufort is fabulous, and we ate at Panini's. Fantastic! We had coffee and gelato at Common Grounds. We browsed the stores and sat on the waterfront swings. As soon as we sat on the swings, more rain. Still, we had a good time before the rain caught back up to us.

It's hard to be mad about the rain. The area had been under a drought, and they needed it. Not only that, they needed some steady rain to really soak the ground, and they got it. So the rain might have spoiled some of our plans, but I'm still glad for it.

The morning has been clear so we finally walked to the beach. Look at this picture and be jealous.

I am still working on book three, by the way. Promise.

So Exciting!

Red Dead Redemption II might have taken over my life for a bit, but I'm slowly re-entering society. Why, hello!

Some of you may or may not know that I work a day job and am in school full-time online. All that keeps me pretty busy, but I'm still chipping away at the writing. In fact, just this week, I was washing my grungy hair and thinking about Daeg and Rhys and some characters you haven't met before (I'm in the process of fixing my rough draft with a reverse outline and new outline - it's like homework, but worth it), and I had a flash of inspiration. "That's exactly what I need to do! That's so much better!" I yelled to my dog sleeping on my bed in my spot on my sheets because I was too lazy to make the bed. She might have flicked an ear. I don't know. I had shampoo in my eyes.

Anyway, all that to say, it's coming along. In the meantime, what are you reading now to kill the time in between book two and book three? And what would you like to see in book three of The Seodrassian Chronicles? I can't make any promises, but I love the feedback!

And if you're American (like me), have a great Fourth of July! FREEEEEEEDOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!