Hello Lunatics,
I’m deep into the next Lycan Legacy book, writing as fast as I can to meet my editor’s deadline. Projected publication is for mid-February. Below is a teaser from the chapter four.
The next afternoon, we gathered in my office again to hold a brainstorming session to attack the training issue. The same group, plus the twins in their strollers. Naomi was teasing the children by waving her two tails just out of their reach, tickling their noses, then jerking them away when they tried to grab her tails. Merry laughter from my children calmed my soul, even though the situation was dire.
I had an 85-inch monitor mounted on the wall, showing a huge Gantt chart with my schedule for the next year displayed. I had resisted the need for organization, but once the businesses exceeded fifty-million dollars per year, something had to be done. One of the witches oversaw my schedule. It was a full-time job.
The chart was color coded for different aspects of my life, blue for the hospital work, green for the mine, red for personal. There was a timeline of the lunar cycle in the top row.
The target date for my red timeline ended at the next Penumbra in December. There was a second timeline to show time spent in Fae fast-time zones; weeks compressed into days, months into weeks, years into months. The fastest time zone was highlighted in violet, because that much time variance was very dangerous. Naturally, there was no lunar cycle for the Fae timeline.
Every time I looked at the chart, my heart sank. Factoring recovery time for Sensei, plus training time in the fast-time zone pushed the timeline past the next Penumbra.
I started drumming my fingers on the table, a nervous habit picked up from my dad. Thump-thump-thump-thump.
Frustration grew as my team seemed unconcerned, chatting about their schedules and upcoming events. I took several calming breaths to push away anger.
Click-click-click-click.
Claws had erupted while I was trying to calm down. So much for calming breaths. I reached for my mouse to try to re-arrange the Gantt chart to look for some way to make more time, but the claws kept me from clicking the mouse.
The phone on my desk rang. I looked at it in puzzlement. The only people who had this private number were in the room with me.
Destinie grabbed the phone before I could recover. “Ms. White’s office. Destinie speaking. How may I help you?”
“Tell the bitch I want to talk to her.” My stomach churned at hearing Donovan’s voice, and shivers ran down my spine. I was grateful that he wasn’t here in person, where he could smell my fear. Over the phone, I might convince him I wasn’t terrified.
“Which bitch are you referring to?” asked Destinie. “There are several here.”
“Wait. Destinie, Destinie. Aren’t you the one-handed screaming nun?”
“You thought cracking my knuckles gave permanent damage?” Destinie stared at her rebuilt hand, flexing around the phone handpiece until it cracked into tiny pieces. Luckily, the crushed handset didn’t disconnect the call. She blinked in astonishment, brushed the remains of the handset off her hand, shook her head, pushed the speaker button, and continued, “I’ll be glad to show you how well I recovered by ripping your balls off.”
Donovan laughed, “Not very nun-like. Aren’t you supposed to avoid violence?”
“I’ll say a Hail Mary.”
“Quit baiting the idiot,” said Mike.
“The SEAL’s alive?” asked Donovan. “I could swear I saw your brains leaking out of your skull when we parted ways.”
“If I lost half my brains, I’d still be twice as smart as you. Next time we meet, I’ll bring my own hammer. Made by a gentleman named Maxwell.”
“Maxwell? That doesn’t make any sense.” Not a Beatles fan, then. Donovan coughed to change the subject. “I didn’t call to trade insults with the help. Put Luna on. Now.”
Mike opened his mouth, but I made a time-out gesture and he quieted.
“What do you want, Donovan?”
“My board of directors has called an emergency meeting for December 4th.”
“Isn’t that the date you’re supposed to be getting your ass kicked?”
A low growl made me happy he wasn’t here in person. “We’ll see whose ass gets kicked. But it won’t be in December. I cannot miss this meeting.”
“Either miss that meeting or our fight. Either way, you’re going to lose your company.”
“I will lose nothing, but I can’t make the meet in December.”
“Oh, so you’re requesting a delay. Or, should I say, begging for a deferral.”
The growl intensified. “I’m not begging for anything. It would be in both of our self-interest to reschedule.”
“I’m glad you mentioned self-interest. What’s in this for me?”
Hope you enjoyed the teaser. There’s a lot more action in the rest of the book.
Why the long delay getting this book written? I could list everything that went wrong in 2021, lockdowns, shortages, schedule changes at my job, an entire litany of excuses. But the truth is, I wrote myself into a corner and couldn’t find a way out. I had plans to complete Lycan Legacy – Penumbra before the solar eclipse in early 2021. I planned the climax to be the fight under the solar eclipse but failed to complete the final fight scenes in time to make the publication date. Those of you who read Penumbra (thank you all!) know that the book ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. I’m happy with the ending. It was a magnificent scene that set up a lot of what happens in the next book, but it wasn’t what I had planned.
But how to deal with the missed solar eclipse? After all, I had promised to meet a deadline that had already been passed. That’s the figurative corner I found myself in. In the meantime, I started working on the next Luna book. Then on the next, next Luna book. All to avoid confronting this thorny problem.
Then I had an epiphany. Why not make my problem Luna’s problem? Make missing the deadline part of the story? Once I wrote the scene postponing the fight, the rest of the story flowed. I show the result of the delay in the excerpt above.
I’ll post a pre-order for the book as soon as it gets into my editor’s hands. My current title is Lycan Legacy — Prizefight.
I usually take time in January to look back on the year to see how much I’ve accomplished and the plan for the coming year. In 2021, I wrote nearly 140,000 words. Lower than my 2020 totals, and much lower than previous years. I released Lycan Legacy — Paladin, Lycan Legacy — Penumbra, a Luna White short story, as well as a box set of books 4, 5, and 6 of the Lycan Legacy series.
Looking forward, my working circumstances have changed positively. I plan on a more consistent writing schedule for 2022 and releasing at least three books in the series, plus a box set. Then there are the translations in progress. If time allows, I will have Lycan Legacy — La Preda available on Amazon in late February.
I’ve been discussing genre trends with my editor, and it might be time for a spinoff series. I have been blessed with such great characters (I don’t take credit for creating them, they’re like friends that visit my headspace from time to time), that it would be a shame to not tell their stories. No spoilers yet but look for something different in 2022.
Happy New Year and Blessings to you all. Thank you for being a fan.
