I’ve send my novel-for-adults (formerly The Storytellers, now tentatively titled The Lonely Years) off to some friends for their comments, and my second YA novel We Are Totally Normal is basically done (cover should be revealed in late June!) so right now I have nothing to work on.

This comes after a year in which I was working pretty hard. First I wrote the first draft of The Storytellers, then I completely rewrote We Are Totally Normal, and then I completely rewrote The Storytellers too! That’s three novel drafts in the space of a year. I wouldn’t say I’m burned out exactly, but it does feel like I’ve had tunnel vision for the past year, and now I’m finally able to be more strategic in choosing my next project

I’m not one of these writers who’s simply bursting with ideas for new novels. I can generate ideas, of course, just like anybody else, but in order to be worth writing about they need to get at the heart of something. Without that, the whole thing is just a pointless exercise.

But that’s easier to say and harder to do. So nowadays I’m basically reduced to lying in bed and being like…maybe a midafternoon nap would jog loose some ideas…