Wow, really? Thank you so much. What to post next? The Possibly Gratuitous Prologue?

I just decided to post the end of the scene...still haven't made up my mind about the PGP. But the end of the first scene is at [link] No pressure.

OK, so the word from people who attended the national Romance Writers of America convention last week is that the market isn't looking good for historical romance, especially works that are more serious in tone. While I know that the market won't die altogether, it's still depressing news. I've been telling myself all along my goal is to write what I'm good at and hope I'll succeed despite trends, perhaps even becoming the next Big Thing and spawning countless Pale Imitations.

But it's still hard to make myself go write my nightly two pages of my very serious romance set in 1811. My perhaps arrogant confidence that of course I'll sell eventually, because I'm really just that good, is shaken.

People told J.K. Rowling not to get too excited by her little kids' book. IJS. (Although I know how rare that kind of success is. But you don't really need the castle, do you?) :)

Susan, just write. Really. It's what we do.

Cause we're evil. What? You're surprised? My mother ran into an old friend from, like my preschool years. Told her all about my would-be book. My first thought was "Damn. I guess I have to write the fucker now." But I have to anyway. I promised.(Even though the guy I promised said his next resort would be begging and that could be pretty exciting, keeping a promise is like not crossing a picket line. One of those things I was born to do.)

But you don't really need the castle, do you?

Castle is optional. I'll settle for owning rather than renting, and four bedrooms rather than two. Which in many neighborhoods around here carries a price tag that seems more appropriate to a castle.

And I did manage to make myself write my pages. I'm now working on my more mundane writing, digging up interesteing factoids on gestational hypertension for a query I'm going to try out on some of the parenting magazines.

I understand. But I'm not feeling all that great about owning right this minute, after what we spent on the AC. The guy cut us a deal and I still wanted to say "Is that in pesos?" Cause we have a cash flow problem. We don't have any. That's the problem.

I'm not so much looking forward to owning as feeling like it's an important next step, not least because in another year or so Annabel will need her own room, so ideally we'd want a 3-bed with the third bedroom an office/guest room. And anything bigger than a 2-bed is rare in rental form.