Ah, there’s nothing like the feeling of a stout wooden paddle in your hand. The whistle it makes as it swings through the air and the solid, meaty sound it makes when it contacts some blue-jean-clad buttocks … Well, I assume it offered my teachers some satisfaction back in the day. But right now I think I’ll talk about discipline in writing.

I’ve been plodding along in Nadia’s Children for months now. For a while it was slow simply because it lacked direction. Then I found where the story was going, but didn’t have time because of other commitments on my waking hours. Now summer’s here and work on the book has continued to lag. Part of that has been frustration with Scrybe Press, but that issue is working toward a resolution. Part of it is simply that I’m not sure I like where the story is likely to wind up. We’ll have to see about that.

Also, there’s the issue of The Fetch. I have decided to make it a young adult book. So, I started removing the astral sex scenes. Then I decided that I had to make all the point-of-view characters except the psychiatrist young adults. Now, I’ve decided to cut or rewrite all the chapters that were originally in the point of view of people other than the main character or his "fetch." (A fetch is the ghost of a living person.)

Then Carrie Jones and I started kicking around ideas for a new collaboration. We discussed a few ideas, then jumped into working on one of them. The fire is still there. We are burning up keyboards on a brand new story that I think will surprise our readers.

Here’s the thing, though. On the collaboration, I write a chapter and send it to Carrie. Then she writes a chapter and sends it back. While I’m waiting, though, I tend to do nothing useful. I should be working on Nadia or Fetch, putting all that flowing creative energy to use instead of holding it back, waiting. This is my disciplinary goal beginning tomorrow … which is now today. I must multi-task!