I’m B-a-a-a-c-k!

The speed by which summer flies always amazes me. Here it is, the last week of July already! I’ve been traveling, visiting with friends, spending time with family and just generally doing all kinds of things—except writing. Shhh…don’t tell my editor!

Actually I’ll be starting revisions on Book Two of my Great War series soon, but in the mean time I’ve been mulling over my vision for Book Three, tentatively titled Springtime of the Spirit. I have a loose outline and a pretty good picture of the beginning, which is all I usually start out with so this is a familiar place. Once I get a better feel for the characters, the rest of the story will take shape.

This is both the most fun and the hardest part of writing, at least for me. I don’t yet know the characters well enough for them to do all the work. I’d say they come out of the setting, since that’s so much a part of things, particularly with historicals, but the setting for this book is one of my biggest challenges.

It’s just after the First World War. My characters are all German, which means my hero is returning from the battlefront in defeat. The country is in chaos, with Germany suffering from economic turmoil left from war demands of the past four years, and now with an influx of returning soldiers looking but unable to find work. There is also a general revolt against the monarchy and capitalists for starting the war, creating political unrest across the country. Plenty of angst to go around!

I’ll be talking a little about this sort of challenge in the coming weeks, because it’s so important to try finding a balance of hope amid such a hopeless setting. I’ve done this before, in Oak Leaves when the heroine learns her child suffers from an irreversible genetic disorder, and in My Sister Dilly, where one of the sisters has faced the horror of a failed murder/suicide attempt.

So I should say full steam ahead, right? Been here, done this. Piece of cake.

I can honestly admit, however, that every new project makes my knees quake, probably because of this “hopeless” element. Which must be why I love to write—to try meeting the challenge and turning it into something hopeful.

Stay with me in the next few weeks as I delve into how to inject hope into a hopeless setting!