“I haven’t seen a new post in a while. What’s up with that?”

The answer: everything.

The kids had five snow days and two holiday days, my oldest had some strange flu bug, my youngest fell up the stairs (Yep, I said up!) and needed five stitches.

And if that’s not enough, my slow dying laptop finally came to the point of needing its own tombstone. The upside to this is that I’m now the proud owner of a new HP laptop with a six hour battery life. (And I’m loving it!) The downside is I have to install all my favorite programs and learn a new operating system, Windows 7.

So, am I back on track? I’m not sure yet. But I know for a fact, you’ll see a new post next Wednesday.

That being said, I’m currently working on the second book of my Thomas Hall series. It has been much harder to write than the first one. I’ve scrapped about 25,000 words (that’s about 100 pages) and am certain there is more yet to come. So I started thinking about why this book is so difficult and there’s only one answer: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK SYNDROME.

In the original trilogy, The Empire Strike Back is the second movie. The one where all hope is lost for the Republic. This is what I’m calling The Empire Strikes Back Syndrome. The part of any series where all hope is lost. If you think I’m making this up, go read NEW MOON by Stephanie Meyer.

Why is this a problem for me? I’m not big on writing sad and depressed. The world is full of such things and I enjoy writing for the escape. In addition, I get a little wrapped up in my characters. So if my main character is depressed, it depresses me.

The question comes to stand, why do so many second books in a series suffer from this syndrome? I’m not sure, but I have a theory. In character based stories, like mine, you main character has a defining moment in each book. In the first book, writers spend a good chunk of time introducing things to the reader like characters and location. So when the character finally gets around to this moment, there has been a slow build up. However, by the second book everything is in place from page one, allowing the writer to jump straight into the deep end. The downside to that is that you still have to entertain the reader after they’ve finished page twenty-five. So as the writer, you dig the character deeper and deeper into a problem to make their defining moment more meaningful. How’s the best way to do that? More often than not, by stealing their hope (at least for a little while).

So there you have it, The Empire Strikes Back Syndrome. Does every writer have to deal with it? Probably not, but I do.

If we’re lucky, occasionally we will get days that we are happy to see out of balance. Our wedding day, a baby’s first steps, seeing your child graduate from college (or kindergarten, I’m not picky).  These are the days we never forget.

But other days, the lack of balance swings to the opposite end of the spectrum. Today was one of those “other” days. I’ll spare you the boring details, but I was certain the only way that both yin and yang could find equal measure was for there to be an e-mail from an agent stating they loved my book and already had a publisher in mind who would certainly snatch it up first thing in the morning. (I know, if it were only that simple.) However, something else happened. I opened my e-mail to find a mystery.

An agency I’ve heard wonderful things about was following me on Twitter. I don’t know how they found me, or who at their agency chose to follow me. But this knowledge that someone out in the wide world of publishing was interested in me as a writer, even if it were only for a moment, was enough to turn the tide of my day.

If Rolling Stones sang about it, it must be true. “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might just find you get what you need.”

And yes, I did send the agency an e-mail tonight, asking if they’d be interested in representing CRUSH AT THOMAS HALL.

I’ll write part of a scene at the Diner next door to the music center where the girls take clarinet and piano. I’ll edit in the lobby of the dance studio while they are in ballet class. I’ve been known to write an entire chapter while watching a late night movie on DVD with my son.

I try to get in about three to five hours of writing a day, Monday through Friday. However, I never get to do it in one sitting. I can only imagine how much I could accomplish if I could work uninterrupted!

Of course, other things suffer. Is my house as clean as it could be? No. Is the laundry caught up? You’ve got to be kidding. But am I happy? Absolutely.  And when the Mama’s happy, everybody’s happy.

(Just in case you’re curious, I wrote this in four different pieces between three and five this evening.)

Those of you who don’t know me personally, I’m fearless. However, this experience put my nerves to the ultimate test. (And I have three children!) You are essentially sitting down across from an agent or editor and trying to convince this person your novel is worth taking the time to read. Oh, and you have five minutes to successfully complete this task.

I signed up for a slot months in advance and as the date the conference grew nearer, I began to question my sanity. Yet Saturday morning, I found myself sitting across the table from an agent for the first time in my life. (I won’t mention her name here, mostly because I didn’t ask her permission.) So here’s the truth; I have no idea what I said. I remember talking about the book. I remember her asking lots of great questions. I know I had answers for all the questions and she was excited about the novel’s concept.  But I couldn’t tell you what words came out of my mouth if my life depended on it.

I must have said something right though, because she asked to read the entire manuscript.

As always, I’ll keep you posted on my journey.

     Twenty-six year old genius Cassandra Martin didn’t plan on ending up in the hospital when she gave her life a do-over nearly two years ago. Of course when she buried her husband, sold her home, and set off to see the world, she didn’t plan on meeting sexy forty-eight year old biotech CEO, Edward Baker, and moving to his family’s small winery either.

     When Edward’s terminally ill father is murdered and Cassandra is brutally attacked, the two embark on a journey that will require navigating her turbulent past, falling in love, the paparazzi, a million dollars in stolen winery funds, and someone crazy enough to murder a dying man. 

     I’ll post an excerpt soon!