I can hardly believe it, but Still Sucks to Be Me has almost been out an entire month already! That also means that the EPIC Launch contest is almost over, so if you haven’t entered yet, be sure you do before the end of the day on June 11th!

One of the strange things about being a writer is that whatever book you’re promoting is, honestly, one of the farthest things from your mind. To me, Still Sucks was wrapped up a year ago. I’m working on an entirely different book with entirely different characters. Every time I think about Mina and the gang, it’s like having to pull back from the current trials and tribulations of the characters I’m making life miserable for right now.

Don’t feel too bad for Nat (my main character) or her friends (Oscar and Melly) though. I’m also at that stage in the book where the characters are making *me* miserable. It happens every time. I’m getting close to the end and things aren’t exactly lining up yet. Pieces are coming together, but some things are falling apart. It always makes me think of that bit of The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats:

Turning and turning in a widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

Though I’m sure that’s not what he was talking about when he wrote that. At any rate, I’m slogging through. I have to keep reminding myself that I like this book. I like these characters. And it’s okay. It’s okay if what I’m writing write now is utter dreck. That’s what revisions are for.

My goal is still to finish the whole thing up by the end of June and hopefully before ALA (if I’m lucky). I’m at around 44,000 words right now. Wish me luck!