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In just over two months, Depth of Return will be released. This book has been written, rewritten, edited, edited, and edited. (All books go through this, so this is nothing new for me.) And it’s not done yet. I still have to read it one more time at the galley stage, but it’s essentially done because if I want to change anything now, I have to go on my knees before the publisher and essentially bleed. I feel like I have the book memorized, and yet it’s unfamiliar at the same time. A lot has changed since my original draft, so when I read it, I still stumble over where new stuff has blended with old stuff. But all this has given the book a far deeper texture than my first ideas could ever have dreamed.

My original idea was pretty simple — write a story about a new witch/demon pair. Of course James and Ambient started clamoring in my mind about that being unfair — they wanted to be in it, too. So of course they are, along with Jules, the quirky Renaissance jeweler who helped them out at the end of their book. I like Jules. And their dog Raine wouldn’t be left out, either. In fact, Depth of Return is a bit of a doggy book. I like dogs, too. And cats. And lakes and islands and canoes and thunderstorms and all the stuff that always finds its way into my books.

I honestly don’t know where my two new characters came from. North and Alan just appeared and took right over. North is bossy that way. He’s wonderfully rude and uptight and just wants to be left the fuck alone. He’s been betrayed by family and lover, and he’s pretty much done with everything at the ripe old age of twenty-six. Until he meets Alan, who is young and wide-eyed at the recent discovery that he’s a demon. If two men ever needed each other, these two do. But of course there are problems — the past never stays nicely where it has been left.

A common thread that runs through both Another Healing and Depth of Return is the problem of demons going bad. Certainly James and Ambient had to deal with one of them — a demon named Hugh who wanted to find out everything he could about the witch/demon bond, no matter what the cost to the people he had to take apart to do it. Depth of Return has a nasty demon, too, and he wants… Well, I can’t give away too much about the book. Suffice it to say that North and  Alan have problems.

Anyway, as Depth of Return finishes its march toward publication, I am feeling mostly relief at this point, but also a growing sense of excitement. A new book out at the end of summer! Yippee!

Since there is a really important thunderstorm in Depth of Return, here’s a photo of a storm approaching camp I took last week.

On September 6, 2016, I’ll be releasing my next novel, Another Healing Book II: Depth of Return.

This whole series started with a short story I wrote several years ago for a charity to support Doctors Without Borders. The theme was healing, and so I decided to write about a man who can actually heal just by touching someone. Of course, some conflict was needed, so I decided that the price he has to pay for healing someone is to fall in love with that person. But only until he heals his next patient. And since this story has a contemporary setting, he has to keep his ability, and the curse that goes with it, secret. Naturally, by the time the story begins, my main character, James, is slowly going insane, living a reclusive life in an RV and staying away from people as much as possible so he can avoid healing and the heartache that goes with it. But since he is basically a very nice guy, he can’t help healing a man he finds dying in a car that’s been hit by a truck. The man turns out to have a lovely rosebud tattoo near his navel which James becomes utterly obsessed with. And to his vast joy, Ambient is more than okay with that, and true love breaks the curse.

I was thrilled that readers seemed to like The Rosebud and the overwhelming response I got was that they wanted more. They wanted to find out why James could heal, how Ambient had managed to break the curse, and simply to see James and Ambient’s relationship develop. And I wanted all these things, too, since I had no more idea about any of this than my readers did. So to find out, I wrote a novel called Another Healing. (Yeah, that’s the way I work. I have no idea what I’m doing half the time — I just do it and usually it sort of works out. As my editor friend tells me, I have to write my way into a plot.) By then, the rights to the original short story had reverted back to me, so I worked it into the opening of the novel.

Anyway, that’s how my whole concept of witches and demons working together was born. James is a demon and Ambient is his witch, and they’ve been predestined to work together since before they were born. Eventually, they meet other witches and demons and begin to understand what’s going on, and then there are some rogue demons who want to experiment on them, and they end up even stronger and more in love than when they met.

Happily, readers enjoyed the novel. By now, I was hooked on the whole concept, and the idea for Depth of Return was exploding in my head. I hadn’t quite planned on it taking so long, but I know the novel has benefited from its slow cooking time. It definitely feels like a major offering to the world, and I have really, really put a lot of work into it.

There will be much more about Depth of Return in future blog posts, but for now HERE is a link to my author page on Amazon, where you can buy Another Healing, if you missed it the first time around, so you’ll be all set and ready to go on September 6 when Depth of Return hits the world. (And of course check out my other available works.) Thanks.

So I found I needed to tweak my summer schedule just a little.

I, in fact, don’t always get up at seven when my husband leaves under the follow circumstances:

a) it’s cold out (and hence cold in the bedroom)
b) it’s still warm in bed
c) my kitty is still in bed and wants to cuddle.

I defy anyone not to go back to bed under those circumstances.
But I thought I should clarify in case some loyal followers felt obligated to get up, thinking that if M. Raiya could do it, they could to. So please, everyone, go back to bed.

Also, I need to correct the “write some more in the evening” bit. I don’t always do that if my older daughter who doesn’t live here turns up at camp for an afternoon swim and stays to dinner. Family time is important, right? I don’t need to feel guilty about that, too, right?

Well, I really do need to go take my morning swim. I mean, I have to stick to some parts of my schedule. And it looks like it’s going to be another beautiful day.

Enjoy.

Okay, it’s officially summer now. School is over and my family took a short camping trip to Maine, and now I’m happy to settle into camp writing routine (and nurse my sore muscles from a hike that was waaaay out of my comfort zone.)

This is how a summer day unfolds for me:

Get up at seven when my husband leaves for work
Put camp in order
Go for my morning swim in the lake
Settle in at the computer by the window with a mug of hot chocolate and write
Make some lunch and eat outside at the picnic table with a book
Write some more
Go for an afternoon swim/kayak
Write some more
Cook dinner with my family
Go for a family walk
Have an evening swim/kayak/and watch the sunset
Write some more
Go to bed.

My only interruptions are some volunteer work I do, any interesting bird that flies by and demands I try to photograph it, and riproaring thunderstorms that threaten to blow the camp off its foundations. Oh, and a little time on social media, of course.

Notice there is a complete lack of TV (we have no internet or cable or any of that stuff at camp — I am coming to you now via a personal hot spot set up with my phone.) I might occasionally watch a movie with my husband at night. There is also no drinking water, an iffy septic system, no dish washer, no washer or drier. And a long hike down a narrow flight of stairs from our bedroom to the bathroom. It’s cold and drafty when the wind blows out of the north. What we do have are lots of bugs, particularly spiders. They sometimes drop down onto beds, onto the table while we’re eating, and really — why do they like the bath tub so much? And mosquitoes that can drain you dry and then carry your corpse away.

But nothing compares to the sense of peace that just falls down out of the trees like rain and permeates everything it touches. Four generations of us have loved this place. I mean — this is the view beside me right now.

So I am now embarking on my second summer here as a full time writer. Last summer I finished a rough draft of Depth of Return and started writing Cricket, both novels in the Another Healing Universe. This summer I am just finishing up the edits of Depth of Return and am going to revise Cricket. My goal is to have it submitted by the end of the summer, and start something new. I plan to be blogging a lot more regularly, as well as posting snippits from my life and sunset photos on Facebook and Twitter. There will be some excerpts from Depth of Return, and a big cover reveal as we get closer to the BIG RELEASE DAY — September 6.

So stay tuned as I share my summer with you. Thanks!

I’m in Spanish! How cool is this?

Welcome Spanish readers!

So excited to announce that I just signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press for the publication of my next novel, Depth of Return!

Depth of Return is set in the Another Healing universe. The main characters are new, but James and Ambient and their dog, Raine (click HERE to read the free short story about how they got their puppy) are back as well.

This is the first full length novel I’ve published since Another Healing, and I’ve spent a long time and a lot of energy on it. I’m really thrilled with the way it’s shaping up. I can’t wait to introduce North and Alan to all of you. They are another witch/demon pairing with a whole new set of talents and conflicts.

The novel is set to release in September/October 2016.

It felt REALLY good to move it from Works in Progress to Forthcoming this morning. It’s been a while since I’ve published anything, in part because I’m focusing on writing novels and not novellas now, and in part because my writing got a bit derailed by a whole lot of death in my family in a short time. But I am officially back in business! Lots more details to come.

In general, I avoid making posts or even talking much about politics, but Bernie Sander’s win in New Hampshire yesterday has made me make an exception.

As a Vermonter, I can remember when Bernie was elected to be the mayor of Burlington, the city which bordered the town where I was growing up. I was old enough to vote when he became our sole congressman, and later one of our senators. Vermont has always been known to be quirky and individual and damn proud of it, so sending a socialist to Washington was right up our alley.

Bernie has been part of the landscape for as long as I can remember. I’ve met him bike riding on my favorite bike path, met him in my favorite shoe store, seen him marching in parades. He’s spoken in my daughter’s high school.

The most recent time I saw Bernie was a couple years ago at a harvest festival just down the road from where I live. He was walking around like everybody else, checking out the pies and the vegetables and the crafts. My husband was playing drums with the local town band that day, and Bernie paused to join the crowd who was listening. A friend from New York was with me, and all of a sudden she said, “Isn’t that one of your state senator?”

“Yeah,” I said, “that’s Bernie.”

She couldn’t believe that he was just walking around with the crowd like everybody else, with no secret service or anything. And everybody else was just nodding and smiling to him, knowing who he was, but not making a fuss. We were all Vermonters, eating and listening to music and enjoying the fall day.

After a few moments, Bernie took out his phone and snapped a photo of the band and my admittedly photogenic husband at the drum set.

My friend grabbed my arm. “Bernie Sanders just took a photo of your husband!”

“Yeah, so?” I said, smiling. Nope, this wasn’t New York.

I am beyond thrilled that Bernie is now spreading the message that I’ve been hearing since I was a kid onto the national stage, and that the nation is listening.

And, all politics aside, the next time you see Bernie on TV, remember that he has a photo of Mr. MRaiya on his phone!