Working on Betrayed in Reno

I’m hard at work on Book 2 of the Arnaud Legacy, Betrayed. To make revisions go faster, I checked into a hotel in Reno by myself for a few nights. I holed up (ordered room service to not have to leave), worked exhaustively and happily, and got a lot accomplished with my revisions. Here’s the chunk of book as it stood at the beginning (now pretty much every page has a change on it).

I had quite the adventure getting to Reno. Driving through the very same mountain range that flummoxed the Donner Party, I was cruising along, blasting the radio, and suddenly… my engine light went on. I took the next exit, but there was no service station, so I got back on the freeway, only to have the car bucking and dodging, so I pulled over onto the shoulder. I was lucky, because a little further on, there is no shoulder. Just a plunge down to Donner Lake.

Did I mention it was getting dark? And cold? And I was having trouble getting a signal to call AAA?

It all worked out okay. I did manage to call and a tow truck came and loaded my car under a very small moon. At that point, I was ready to be towed home, especially since he told me he couldn’t tow me across state lines (I was in California at that point, very close to the Nevada border). But I love this driver, he talked me into continuing on to Truckee, where my car was swapped to yet a second tow truck that did take me all the way to Reno–and he regaled me with tales of horrific roadside disasters he’d been dispatched to. It was awesome!

My second tow truck driver was another pleasure to talk to–he said some really sweet things about his kids and how each time he hugs his tween son on the sofa he thinks, “this is probably the last time,” and we talked about meditation, things we like to read, how we believe about the interconnectedness of all things. It was truly a wonderful ride. And after he dropped my car at the garage and I trustingly threw my key through the hole in its door, he took me to the valet entrance of my hotel, and we both laughed at my sweet ride. I’m sure the valets were relieved he was only dropping me off and they didn’t have to park it.

Then, I checked into my room and got to work.

By the way, I heartily recommend printing out your pages to anyone who’s an aspiring writer. Why?

• It’s an instant psychological boost to see what a book really looks like. It can even take an entire ream of paper to print! Those are all your words! So many of them!
• I personally see many more errors than when I’m looking on the computer screen. It’s a different reading experience altogether.
• Easier on the eyes, and no one recommends looking at a screen in the wee hours of the morning, which is when a tormented writer might… be… revising.

Looking forward to sending Betrayed to my editor, pretty much just in time for Book 1, Haunted, to launch! That’ll be the reward for all the hard work.