Travel

It’s been quiet around here lately because we just got back from visiting Ms T, my BFF, for two weeks in southern California, which was absolutely lovely. Mr M and I worked during the week, then we did mini-vacations on the weekends. Ms T’s neighborhood had a pool, which meant we got to swim nearly every day after work, so that was awesome.

My magical fantasy romance is now over 18k words and sort of going in an unexpected direction, but I’m still having fun, so I’m rolling with it.

The first weekend in CA, we went to San Diego for a day at the zoo and beaches, then a day at the Miramar Air Show. I can’t remember the last time I went to an air show, but this one was fantastic! It probably helped that Ms T bought us the fancy tickets with reserved seats right in center field and food and a bar. Win win win!

The air show headliners were the Blue Angels, the Navy’s fancy flying group, and they must have nerves of steel, because they flew real close to each other. It was super impressive. Here’s an animated gif as an example. I made it from a video, and I’m not putting it on the page directly because the file is pretty big, but it’s worth the click. :)

Because I spent the day staring at the sky, I sunburned my lips. They are usually protected by the wide-brimmed hat I wear nearly everywhere outdoors, but looking up negated the hat’s shade. Remember to wear SPF lip gloss, future air show goers!

Last weekend, we went to Joshua Tree National Park. Deserts aren’t usually my thing, but it was beautiful. We did it all—sunset, stars, and sunrise—which made for a long but fun weekend. Ms T also convinced us to climb a mountain. It might have been a trail with almost 1000ft of vertical elevation gain, but it certainly felt like a mountain. 😂

Mr M and I took Monday off and went to check out the ocean. Despite all assurances to the contrary, it was freezing cold. Like literal* ice could’ve been floating in it. (*Okay okay, pedants, figurative ice.) We didn’t swim, but we did wade and sit on the beach and watch the surfers, most—but not all—of whom were wearing wetsuits. I salute you, brave wetsuitless surfers; you’re made of sterner stuff than I am.

Then, in an incredible stroke of good timing, edits for Capture the Sun landed in my inbox this morning. My editor absolutely loved it, so I’m relieved. I’ll be editing it for the next few weeks, then we’ll see what happens, because it’s almost time to think about what’s next and what that looks like.

But for now, to the editing cave!

First of all, if you are in Texas, today is election day for the primaries. Go vote! Even if you’ve never voted in a primary before, it’s super easy. Look up a sample ballot on your county’s site or with vote411.org. When you get to the polling place, they’ll ask if you want to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary. You can only choose one, but you don’t need to have pre-registered or anything, and the choice is only for this voting year. The polls are open until 7:00PM.

Other than voting, it’s all edits, all the time. I finished the mini-edit for Polaris Rising and now I’m working on The Queen’s Gambit. There were some issues, so it’s a fairly serious edit. Everything from chapter seven onwards is getting a major overhaul. So, for those of you planning to buy the ebook, you’ll end up with a much stronger story and really get to see how editing shapes a book.

Finally, I’m visiting Belfast soon. It’s my first visit, so if anyone has any suggestions about what I should see or do while I’m there, I would love to hear them! I’ll have a couple days free where I could travel outside the city, but something reachable by bus/train would be best because that whole driving on the other side of the road thing freaks me out. I did it in New Zealand, but I worried the whole time. :)