As you read this, I’ll be somewhere in the Caribbean on-board a beautiful ship, Celebrity’s Equinox. The last time I was on a ship, I was 16 and headed to Europe with a study group of 153 high school students. The ship we sailed on wasn’t exactly a luxury liner. It was a freighter that carried passengers, too.

As I type this, Wednesday, Jan. 20th, I taking stock of the first month of the new year in the new decade. I took a drastic step today. I cut my hair. Short. After the same hairstyle for almost three years, I walked into my hairdresser this morning and said, “Let’s change things up.” We did!

I’m looking at other changes when I get back from this cruise. With luck, the revisions I’m doing now on FAERIE FIRE, the second book in my three-story arc, will be the final set. Then I can get back to work on the third, FAERIE FOOL. And then I’m going to make some changes in my writing. I wrote a book several years ago that’s sitting on the back shelf, waiting patiently for a major overhaul. Oh, yes indeedy, does it need changes! The first 8 chapters have to be slashed and rewritten. Well…slashed, anyway. I was the Queen of Backstory with this book. I handed it over to my CP. I hadn’t shared this “gem” with her yet, as we’d been working on current manuscripts under deadline. She had two comments–kill the first 8 chapters and the last 2/3’s was some of my best writing. Praise from her doesn’t come easy, which is why we work so well together. I’ll have the chance to pitch that book to an agent in June, and again in July at RWA Nationals (provided I remember to sign up in time! LOL). But only after the changes that must be made to fix it.

I’m also changing my locale. At present, my office is a cold/hot (depending on season), drafty, dusty Florida room off the back of the house. Once upon a time it was an enclosed (on three sides) patio the former owners tossed up a wall of second-hand windows to make into a room. Once back from the cruise, I’m finishing up the referb of the old dining room and turning that into my office, even if the French doors and deck haven’t been installed/built. I need the change of scenery and I need the physical act of moving to get reorganized. I even get new office furniture. Santa was good to me this year!

So, when I return mid-February, I intend on letting Iffy run with her scissors. (I already let her cut my hair. What else can go wrong, right?) Change is the password. New subgenre, new office, new working style, new…me! In my absence, y’all feel free to talk among yourselves about the changes you’d like to make in your lives, your writing, your…whatever! Bon voyage!!!