Many, many years ago, my husband agreed to let me stay home and write.  Many, many years ago, after typing "The End" on my first novel, I realized that my perfectionism was going to stand in the way of me ever getting something out the door and into the hands of a possible future agent or publisher. Still, I worked vigilantly at revising and trying to improve that manuscript, until one day I decided to heed the advice of moving on.  And move on I did, to To Be Undone, my second book. And then moving on didn't seem so hard, so before even finishing To Be Undone, I moved on to a shinier idea, The Bitter River.  And when the research proved to be intensive, too intensive for me to carry out in Mayotte, I moved on yet again to Witherwilds, a trilogy.  I seem to have escalating ambitions if not an escalating desire to finish and publish. I want to finish Witherwilds--I can finish Witherwilds--but looking at the time frame needed to do so discourages me. Not for my sake but for the sake of that patient man I mentioned in the first line, my loving, generous husband.

I fall into the category of writer who would like to be published more for the sake of others than for herself.  Yes, I'd like to get my stories out there, but I'm pretty tickled just to get feedback from betas.  I know that can't compare to having one's book out there for the whole world to stumble across and, hopefully, love, but still.  However, I want to get published for Julien. I need to get published for him, for his faith in me, for the time and financial and moral support he's given me through the years. I know that unless I go the self-publishing "indie" route, getting my book out there is not something I can control.  But I can control some things, such as finishing.

And so, on our trip to the south, I promised Julien that I would have a clean, solid draft of To Be Undone finished by September 1.  I also promised that said manuscript will be ready with a query to be sent out to at least 3 agents by November 1st.

There, I've done it. Made my promise public.  Don't hesitate to help me stick to it. 

Sorry, frigg ; looks like you'll be waiting a while longer for volume 2 of Witherwilds...