Load_Cargo 500x750What does it mean to be done writing? In some sense, it means the really hard work begins. It’s time to get the editors involved and we’ll start tearing the story apart. Each of my editors have a different process. My sister, Diane from nammynools.com and author of the Bellingwood series, approaches the first editing with two passes. The first pass is a quick fix, straighten out the bent passages, general word smithing and looking for the odd little habits that she’s become so familiar with in my writing. Her second pass is a more detailed look. My wife, Janet, is my second editor and she looks for the impossible, focusing on the crazy things I do with words, that are easy to miss, but drive many people nuts.

What’s this story about? Ugh. That’s the blurb and I haven’t started working on that yet. Seriously, it takes me a thousand words to say anything, and you want me to summarize this book in a paragraph? Okay, I’ll try. Smuggler’s Dilemma picks up where Parley left off, almost literally. Limping back from their mission on Jeratorn the only ship they have left is the tug, Adela Chen. And while that’s a great way to make money, what’s the fun of pushing barges around? Well, they might wish they’d kept at it after this adventure, because the Red Houzi end up finding them and things get mighty dangerous from that point forward.

I have a small confession to make. I haven’t actually written the epilogue yet. But I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t like the epilogues. I write them because the story needs closure. The fact is I’m all about finishing the plot, once I do that, everything else is a detail and that includes the epilogue. Don’t worry though, I’ll put a lot of thought into the epilogue and tie up all of those lose ends… or will I?