Last week, I made good progress with my writing. I added about 12,000 new words to Wulfe and Christina’s story, The Crusader’s Heart, but this word count is deceptive. I was at the ugly bit, which happens with each book, when I have to scrub through everything I’ve written so far and ensure it’s consistent. A lot of words go away in this process, even as some are added. I probably wrote 20,000 new words, but I also edited and chucked out a lot. So my net gain is 12,000 words, which is fine by me. Sometimes this phase results in no gain in word count at all. It’s a necessary step, though, because it makes the book so much stronger. It’s no fun to do, but I’m always glad when it’s done. Now, the word count will really add up quickly!

There were other things going on last week, as well. I’m hoping to have some interesting news for you soon, and be able to share one of those things. My monthly newsletter went out last week, and The Rogue was (and is) on sale. I also canned my peaches, an annual job that makes a sticky mess of the kitchen but is totally worth it in the winter. Some new swag arrived, which I’ll show you later this week, and I made my time travel romances exclusive at Amazon so they could be available through Kindle Unlimited. I’m also participating in a big promotion at iBooks, and will tell you more about that on Thursday.

And now, I have writing to do!