Oh, Hello!

I live! Yes, I live! :)

Recently, I received word that there has been some concern about my welfare. And in turn, whether or not Walking in Shadow would ever be published. I have surfaced to let everyone know that YES, I am well...and YES, Walking in Shadow will be published. Unfortunately, as you know, I'm far behind schedule with it...and unfortunately, it will be a while longer before it's ready to hit the airwaves and go live. There are a myriad of reasons, but I won't offer any excuses. I'm struggling with it. Alas, the good news is that I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I can't tell you how excited I am for everyone to read it. I won't make any promises about a release date (boy did I learn my lesson about that the last time), but I wanted to let all of you know that it's coming, albeit slowly -- It's COMING. I apologize for the wait; I know it sucks. I've been there as a reader and I would want to throttle an author for missing a promised publication date.

Again, I'm sorry.

I really hope y'all can hang in there with me.

For now, here's a teeny tiny snip -- It may or may not end up in the actual book, but that's yet to be seen. :)

Enjoy!

WALKING IN SHADOW

Ty’s window appeared dark from a distance, but as I drew near, I made out a weak light coming from behind his curtains.

There wasn’t much cover in his yard. I settled for a spot just inside the tree line and hunched down beside the trunk of a maple. The sky held only the faintest light from the setting sun, and the encroaching darkness would provide more than enough cover.

I settled into the spot and closed my eyes, focusing hard on the house before me—trying to pluck out the various sounds from within. To decipher and catalog them. Silly as it was, I imagined a periscope in my mind. One I could use to locate and focus on different things.

I did a sweep of the house, first locating Ty’s mother in the kitchen. There came with her the clatter of cutlery and dishes. I quickly decided she was cleaning up after their evening meal. No real guess work in that since I could see her pass by the kitchen windows.

Score zero for me.

Using her location, I focused on other parts of the house.

A sheen of perspiration broke out across my forehead. I wiped it away with the sleeve of my coat. This was harder than I anticipated, and it was only after several minutes of fierce concentration that I was able to push past the noises Mrs. O’Neill was making to other parts of their house. At last, I picked up what sounded like the slow crackle of pages being turned. The faint creak of…

Just then, Mrs. O’Neill dropped something in the kitchen and my concentration broke.

Swearing under my breath, I dug my fingernails into my palms and once again tried to push past her. This time I was able to focus again on the turning pages and stay there. Along with that, I heard the deep breathing of a male and the minute shifting of…leather. Someone was sitting in a leather chair. That was the creaking I heard.

Mr. O’Neill, likely working from home.

I exhaled and pulled back, surprised by how exhausted this one small feat had left me. A headache pounded at my temples; I took a few even breaths before beginning the next leg of my experiment.

Glancing up at Ty’s window, I grimaced. To say I felt shitty about spying on his parents would be putting it mildly. Spying on Ty himself was pushing past my moral limit. I reminded myself that this would be for his own good. A mild reassurance at best.

Before I could back out, I closed my eyes and concentrated on his room.

Please God, don’t let him being doing anything I can’t handle knowing about.

It was easier to focus without other people between us, their sounds bleeding into his. There was a soft thumping noise coming from his room. Evenly spaced, cushioned. I glanced up at his window, hoping to catch a glimpse of him as he paced back and forth. No such luck. The curtains shielded him from view.

He was agitated about something. He always paced when he had things on his mind. Unfortunately, I had a sinking feeling that I was the source of said agitation.

I don’t know what I hoped to discover by listening to him, but I found the sounds of him moving around up there soothing. If I expected him to phone Melanie, or vice versa—which, honestly, I had sort of hoped he would so I could listen in, even if it was only a one-sided conversation—I was disappointed. His phone didn’t ring and he made no move to call anyone.

The only thing that showed promise was when he suddenly stomped over to the window and drew back his curtains with a soft rustle. From where I sat I had a clear view of him. I crouched low to the ground and held my breath. There was no way he wouldn't be able to see me from that vantage point.

After no sirens went off, I dared to look up.

Ty stood staring toward my bedroom window, his lips turned down in a frown. After a moment, the curtains dropped back into place and he resumed pacing, his steps quicker now.

Just before I turned to move back towards my house, I heard him mutter two small words under his breath.

“Dammit, Mac.”

Changes Are Afoot.

Now, bear with me because I haven't been to a brick & mortar bookstore in quite some time. Some of this may be old hat.

First thing I noticed when I walked into my local B&N was that the young adult/teen section was no longer located where I last saw it. R'uh? I did a double take at the section..after all, the children's section is right where it's always been, and shouldn't the teen section be right there, skirting around it? Umm, nope. It was gone.

*Moment of panic and feeling lost in this unfamiliar world*

Then I spotted one of those middle of the aisle tables loaded down with YA books. Whew. There they are!

I headed over, and the first thing that caught my attention was that the young adult section is now located dead center of the bookstore. WHOOT! How awesome is that? Clearly bookstores are finally realizing how very powerful young adult books are in today's market. Heck, to get to the adult section, you have to bypass the teen section, so yeah, chances are some people may be dazzled by all of the kickass YA covers and stop to browse. GOOD THINKING Barnes & Noble.

Second thing I noticed? Umm, there are now Young Adult category headings at the top of the display cases. R'uuuuuhhhh? *double double TRIPLE take*

Yep. My bookstore has three categories listed for teens. "Young adult fiction" "Young adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy" and "Young adult Paranormal ROMANCE."

Pardon me, but what the FRENCH?!

I don't know how others feel about this...and maybe I'm seriously in the minority, but one of the things I absolutely loved best about the way young adult novels had previously been shelved was that all novels by a particular author were housed together in the same place. I know it's sort of an antiquated way of doing things, and perhaps the fact they're separating them into categories is a GOOD thing, but I really liked this practice. For one, it allowed young adult authors to really mix things up, not only with the types of books they chose to write, but with the amount of genre-bending they could do.

What do I mean by that? Well, previously, a young adult author could choose to write a thriller one year, a contemporary the next, and maybe a paranormal the year after that. And with the way things were, all of those books would be shelved right next to each other. Now, apparently, they will be split up amongst these three, IMO, limiting subject headings. Is this just the beginning? Will more categories emerge? Dystopian is hotter than hot right now... I could see that one making an appearance. Is this a slipperly slope we're walking? Will this make books that don't nicely fit into one specific category harder to shelve, and therefore, harder sells to bookstores?

Oh the worry this conjured.

I had to stop and think about BY THE PALE MOONLIGHT. Where would it be shelved? Would they shelve it under Paranormal Romance and call it good? Yes, there are paranormal elements, and there's romance... but there's also a fair amount of mystery/suspense...and just some good old-fashioned teen angst that has nothing to do with being a werewolf. Would this limit the number of people who would be willing to look at it if it was shelved right next to TWILIGHT? (Not saying that would be a BAD thing, mind. I'd do a number of things, most them legal, to get a little bit of Meyers' mojo). But do you see what I'm saying? Everyone in adult complains about branding, and won't this create the same issue for young adult authors? All conjecture, of course...but something to definitely think about. Of course, most people say brick & mortars are on their way out, so perhaps it's all moot anyway.

The final thing I noticed is in respect to my purchases today. I went in with these four books in mind--knowing I wanted to read them. There was a fifth book on my list that had to get nixed *sad face* because, holy crap, batman!! All of these books (with the exception of the Ness novel) were offered in hardback versions only. Not only that, but the prices ranged from 16-19 dollars a piece. Ugh. I'm on to you booksellers. You get us all worked up to read these books, then charge us up the wazoo, knowing in advance that we have absolutely no taste for delayed gratification. The worst part is that you open the books, and the type is humungous and you know they could've packaged it up in a book half the size, at half the price. UGH. I'm on to your Tomfoolery, booksellers. You're reminding me of how great my Kindle is right about now. Ugh, but I wanted these books--bad--and you got me. Next time, though... next time, I'll be smarter!

Any thoughts?