Introducing My Second Novel

Aspire

as·pire

/əˈspī(ə)r/

verb

direct one's hopes or ambitions toward achieving something

“I aspire to make my second novel better than Flygirl.”

Writing a novel is hard. Writing two novels is ridiculously hard, especially when the first one is successful.

Flygirl was a debut novel from an unknown, first-time author. I had no idea if anyone I didn’t know, or anyone within three degrees of my supporters and contacts, would ever read it.

But read it they did. And they wrote reviews, good ones. I bow my head in gratitude over some of the positive comments readers have made about their experience with my work.

“So,” I said to myself, “make the next one even better.” ‘Cause that’s how I roll—I mean really, if I don’t pressure myself to live up to my own ridiculously high standards, no one else will.

Such was my burden as I wrote my new novel, Angel Flight. I stressed over this book in ways I never did over Flygirl.

Angel Flight takes Tris Miles’s story to places I didn’t even think it could go. With her career back on track, she’s plagued with insecurity over a new relationship she doesn’t completely trust. Tris struggles to navigate her inner world with the help of a therapist she can’t admit to seeing, or else put her flying career in jeopardy. And the man she’s falling in love with has secrets that may ultimately end both of their lives.

Every paragraph, every sentence, every single word of Angel Flight is intended to bring the reader even closer to the sometimes heart-pumping, occasionally wearying, but always fascinating world Tris and her friends, colleagues and passengers inhabit. And just like Flygirl, it might very well take you on a journey to someplace you’ve never been before.

Angel Flight. Coming September 2020.

Words in the Weeds

in·spi·ra·tion

/ˌinspəˈrāSH(ə)n/

noun

the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

"You never know where inspiration will come from.”

When I’m writing, anything can inspire me. I’ll be stuck in a scene where my characters are in a restaurant and I'll ask myself: What kind of restaurant? What are they eating?

And then a taco truck will pull next to me at a traffic light. Ah! Mexican! I immediately visualize my characters cutting through a burrito, dipping chips into guacamole—never salsa, don’t ask me why—and pouring from a pitcher of margaritas.

My most stimulating environment, by far, is my backyard. When I’m at my computer, stuck, I can walk thirty feet east and enter another world. Amid the peaceful swish of tree branches, flowers, and hummingbirds, I can usually cobble together quiet scenes and my characters’ more introspective, tender moments.

For help with action scenes, I weed. Only there, wandering through my own wild kingdom yanking those bad boys out of the ground, do I find true satisfaction. As each interloper rises from the ground, my characters plot, scheme, and argue.

Sometimes I’ll just drop my bounty back on the ground, run inside, and start writing. And then I forget, the nasty growth free to regenerate.

For next time.

What's Next?

se·quence

/ˈsēkwəns/

a particular order in which related events, movements, or things follow each other.

"The action in my second novel follows the events of FLYGIRL in sequence."

One of the best-written television shows of all time is The West Wing. In it, fictional US President Bartlet always asks his staff, “What’s next?” when he’s done with an issue and wants to move on. Is it a coincidence that this iconic program was created by one of my favorite writers, Aaron Sorkin? Oh, I think not.

In early 2020, I’ll release my second novel! We’ll catch up with Tris almost two years after the action in Flygirl, anxious to move both her career and personal life forward. Readers will get to see deeper into Tris’s inner world.

Right now, the book is in the pre-editing stage. The very first person other than myself to read it will be the one and only Jennifer Silva Redmond as the manuscript goes into an initial round of professional edits. If you’ve ever had to review your own work after a professional has dissected it, let me tell you, it ain’t for the faint of heart. I’ll surely wonder why the heck I bothered to write it at all, want to give up and lament the hours and hours wasted on something that is…well, not ready for publication at least.

And after that moment of pure panic, I’ll digest Jennifer’s suggestions, rip the darn thing apart and make it better. Early readers will comment, and it’ll be honed, again and again and again, into something I’ll be proud to have my name on.

And share with you.

More details to come!