Idea for Spring Break?

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Italy for seven weeks now!  I have been so busy with teaching that I haven’t been doing a whole lot of writing, but I think I’m starting to turn a corner.  I’ve been carving out some time during the work week to finesse American Caliphate, my most significant current project.  I have to have it in ship shape to turn into my publisher by the end of May.  And that’s a little scary!  Not that it’s in bad shape, but because it’s epic and long, and at just over 100,000 words, it’s 15,000 words longer than the publisher wants.  So I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching as to what back stories can go, and what characters can become less vivid.  And I was nervous about doing this, but the strange thing is that every cut I make is a cut I want to make.  I feel like I’m honing this into something finer.  I have to admit that this is a bit scary, because where does it end?  If I keep going, I’ll either have a hell of a short story, or a truly wonderful sentence!

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Settling in to life in Italy

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here three weeks now, and harder to believe that we’re just getting into a groove.  I’ve learned a great deal about Italian playgrounds, Italian toystores, and Italian ice cream.  I’m hoping at some point soon to learn a bit about art and history as well.  Keeping to a writing schedule is more difficult here than at home.  Everything is so much more fluid, and work is actually a lot harder – different preps, different class lengths, different tests, etc.  But I’m starting to get back on track.  I’m working on the third/fourth draft, depending on how you look at it, of American Caliphate, an archaeological mystery that takes place in coastal Peru, where I spent some time working on excavations.

I’m also thinking about Henry Grave’s next adventures.  Mediterranean Grave is picking up a little steam, but I still need lightning to strike to blow it into the next level of public awareness.  A little help came this week from the good folks at The Sacramento News & Review, one of the finest papers in the land.  Check out their review: http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/bibliolatry/blogs/post?oid=1922550