Today I’m getting on a plane and taking a long ride, from East coast to West. I’m so excited to get a chance to spend quality time in San Francisco. I hope to bore everyone with tons of photos along the way and even more when I get back. I love feeding my creative soul in a place like that by taking photos of absolutely everything. If anyone has any advice on cool places to photograph, aside from the obvious, please let me know.

While I’m gone, I’ve placed my current work in progress, the sequel to Stronger Than Magic, into the trusty hands of my beta readers. It’s a tough job, beta reading. It’s not just a read-and-done sort of thing, but rather a thoughtful read during which they will be asked their opinions and invited to take pot shots at the story, in the hopes that we, as a team, make this the best experience it can be for everyone else. I am indebted to them, and can’t thank them enough. I can’t wait for their feedback, and I can’t wait to reveal both the title and the cover to you in the next few weeks. Tarian’s journey continues, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

That’s a lot of things I can’t wait for…and yet I will have to, won’t I? Time doesn’t exactly skip forward when we want it to. It only does that when we don’t. Unless you’re writing a science fiction or fantasy novel in which case you can play with time with complete impunity.

But I get ahead of myself.

I spent today packing and fretting over every item I wanted to take. Did I need it? Did I want to carry it? I now have a carry-on bag and a backpack full of everything from a camera and two lenses to enough snacks for two people to spend a week in the woods (which we most certainly are not because I am not an outdoorsy type of girl). If I pick up any souvenirs they’ll have to be shipped back because there’s not a square of space left.

I found myself wishing this tube mode of transportation had already been installed:

The flight to San Francisco is six hours, give or take. What I wouldn’t give to get there in 40 minutes instead. Someday I hope to see this become a reality. This, or teleportation.

In the meantime, I’ll get there the long way. I’m ready, San Francisco! See you soon!