If it's summer break, I'm not having any of it. I'm working. I have a book to finish, and it's rolling along pretty good — so far.

I totally love it when a book starts to write itself. I love sitting down at the keyboard and knowing the only impediment will be how fast my fingers can keep up with what my mind creates. That's not to say it's all easy. No indeed. I still have those stretches where one set of ideas reaches a conclusion (at the end of a scene or chapter, maybe) and I need to figure out which direction to go for the next set.

Yes, I know, if I were a plotter who outlined extensively, I'd know where I was going. But chugging along is part of the process for me. I really love that enjoyment of discovery along the way. It's like getting on a train and going for a trip to a place you've never been. If I bought a video of the trip before I went, and then watched it through, it wouldn't be as exciting for me.

I love this part of being a writer. What I don't love is the pain of self-doubt, the misery of waiting for responses to submissions, the sheer terror of going to the mailbox. I could do without those bits, thank you.

Right now, I'm on the downhill slide. My goal is to be done before 1 July. Then I have a trip to New Orleans over the 4th, back home for shopping for National, then the National conference at the end of the month. Once I get home again and recover from that, it'll be September. Whew, this is a busy summer! Where's the break?

How about you? Any big plans this summer? Any writing plans?