Real life can be TOO real

The reason I've decided to write 3 more stories instead of 2 is because, to put it simply, Hope and Jake have more to do!

If you've ready The Network, story 5, you'll know that it ends on an ominous note: Where are they going?

Story 6 -- as yet unnamed -- shows where they go, and why they're there. And it does a whole lot more.

Hope is also facing a dilemma around how much of the truth she shares with Jake right now. She knows deep down inside what her future must be. How can she possibly share that with Jake? Their unspoken feelings for one another have made it difficult for her to tell him the truth.

On top of that, there's still the spectre of Pandora out there. How quickly will it figure things out? Fast enough to get its way? With the knowledge it now has, it could be a dangerous force.

Stay tuned for Story 6. I do apologize for the delay! Sometimes my "real" life gets in the way of the life I'm creating inside Arcadia and Cerulean -- which is, to be honest, a place I'd much rather be right now.

Because real life can be, well, a little too real sometimes.

I'm still here! And so are Hope and Jake

I got sidelined for two whole weeks this month with two viruses stacked on top of one another. So Story 6 had to be put "on hold" for a short time.

But I'm back to plotting and writing ... and there are going to be at least 8 stories in this series! I thought there might be only 7, but Hope and Jake had more story in them.

So please stay tuned for Story 6 as soon as possible, but not before it's as good as it can be for my readers.

:-)

A character's weaknesses

If you've been reading The Pandora Chronicles, you know that Hope has a few weaknesses. First, she doesn't always say what she's thinking or feeling, especially in regards to Jake. He's much more open about how he feels and what he thinks -- almost to the point of annoying Hope.

Why does Hope keep things inside most of the time?

I think she knows there's something serious that she has to do, and she doesn't want Jake to suffer any potential consequences along with her.

The other weakness Hope has, of course, is a physical one. When she nearly died of The Paralyzing as a young girl, she was left with fainting spells that -- pardon the pun -- plague her. She never knows when one will happen, so she carries ammonia pellets in her pocket all the time.

Do you notice any other weaknesses in Hope's character? Let me know in the comments!

OK, back to writing and plotting Story 6 ...

Have you read The Doomsday Book?

Have you read The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis? If you like time travel, you'll love it. The author creates some really fun characters, and it's great for me because it's set in Oxford, which I visited just this past December. I'm really enjoying it, thanks to a friend of mine who recommended it to me. She's definitely a book expert: she works at Scholastic, the magical place that published Harry Potter and also The Hunger Games. Maybe The Pandora Chronicles will be next!

Speaking of The Pandora Chronicles, I'm so excited about Story 6. We're in the second half of this series now, folks. I know there will be at least Story 6 and Story 7, and there may be a Story 8 to finish it off. It just depends how much more there is for Hope and Jake to do once Story 6 is done, so this is a pivotal moment for us.

Stay tuned ...

Thank you for the reviews

Just a quick note of "thanks" to everyone who has written -- or plans to write -- a review of any of my stories on Amazon. More than just helping the search-engine ranking of the stories, the reviews mean a lot to me, they really do.

That someone would take a moment to write something nice about one of my stories? Really, it just makes my day, my week, my month ... heck, it makes my year.

So here is a big

THANK YOU. 

I appreciate it so very much.

Episodes 6, 7 ... and possibly 8?

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, wherever you are. It's been drizzly here in NYC so far, but the sky is a little brighter today (Sunday). Still not quite enough to warm up these native-California bones of mine, but I'll take 40 degrees over 30 (or 20 or 10) any day.

I'm plotting Story 6 of The Pandora Chronicles and am starting to write it today, and something dawned on me: I might need 8 episodes for this series!

If you're a fan, I suppose that won't upset you too much. ;-) And as the author, I can tell you that it definitely doesn't upset me at all! I enjoy spending time with Hope and Jake and all the other characters we've grown to know and love.

March will be a busy writing month for me. If only I didn't have a 9-to-5 job, I could write even faster ... but I'm going to make a promise, which is that Story 6 will definitely be published this month. And if I can find the time, Story 7, too.

That's the goal: Stories 6 and 7 published in March. With possibly an 8th episode coming in April.

Send good writing vibes, OK? More like, send good vibes that I don't have to work overtime at my "real" job so that I can spend time with Hope and Jake.

I mean really, which is more important? My "regular" job, or my job of creating all the thrills and chills of Pandora?

OK, here I go ... Diving head first into writing Story 6!