I think! I think I’m going to be finished with “The Rustler” today, but there are so many strings to tie up, I can’t be sure. Might need another chapter, or an epilogue. We shall see.
What a deeply moving experience it was to write yesterday’s chapter. It was the darkest-hour-is-just-before-dawn chapter. When it was finished, I felt wrung out, and I went downstairs, sat at the table in cousin Mary Ann’s apartment, and cried. I have really come to love these people–Sarah and Wyatt, little Owen, Doc, a prostitute named Kitty. I will be working with them through the publication stages, which are extensive, but it just isn’t the same as when you’re actually participating in the creation of the story. I say ‘participating’, because Sarah and Wyatt and all the rest are so real to me that I can’t be entirely sure who’s creating whom. It’s almost as if they are the writers, and I am the story!
Many of you have asked for more McKettrick books. Good news! I’m starting “A McKettrick Christmas” next week, and it stars a grown-up Lizzie, Holt and Lorelei’s daughter. It will be out in gift-hardcover next fall sometime. And I’m doing another Special Edition story, too, also a Christmas tale, full of love and magic. It’s called “Christmas at Stone Creek”, and features one of Sam and Maddie’s descendents, Olivia O’Ballivan, and several of the characters you’ll meet this December, in “The McKettrick Way”. (Silhouette Special Edition.)
I guess I’d better head for Stone Creek. The place is sizzling like cold water dumped onto a hot fry-grill, and I don’t want to miss a moment!
