Yep. I'm stuck in a rut. It's almost winter, it's very cold, and I'm stuck. That's all!

The infestation started a month prior. It began with one lurking in the dark. One quickly became two, and soon, there was a pack. It took a couple of days to notice what was happening. Television channels dropped off one by one starting with local access until C.N.N. was the last. Dave had seen this before, of course. The flesh-eating vermin had been following him as long as he could recall. They were fearsome with their pallor, their stench, their shuffling gait. Their lack of coordination, their looks of confusion, their fear of fire made them humorous, but it took Dave a while to see that side of them. Once, in Poughkeepsie, he shouted “what do you want?” to a couple that had shadowed him for the better half of a day. The taller one had responded by taking a bite out of his companion’s shoulder. Dave drove out of town that night with his dog and guitar and didn’t stop until he reached Shawnee. From Shawnee, he went to El Segundo; El Segundo to Conyers. Conyers to Missoula, where he ...

I finished my latest round of revisions for FALLING TO NORMAL just now. One thing that strikes me as funny is that I did this while a family poker game is going on in the background. With my husband, father, aunt, and two uncles. One of the uncles is wearing a cheeseburger hat complete with wig. I don't know why, but he is. He and my father just went to the grocery store. My uncle is still wearing the hat. This is funny because my family unbeknownst to them have given me some of the best material for this book. I love how they are here for the latest revision. Even if they are wearing cheeseburger hats. I just went through my drafts to see what I've done since I've taken this up full time in 2004. Here's a brief snapshot. First draft completed June 2006. It had 319 pages and 82,000 words. It also had a prologue and was missing a lot of important information. So I needed to go to my second draft. The second draft was completed two years later, this past June. I took so l...

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