What do you do when the story won’t write?
Okay, so maybe I don't know what you'd do, but here's my checklist. First, there’s the denial. So one character is acting like she died in the last book when I know she didn’t, but she’s not phoning home—but a little thing like that won’t hinder my creative process. That’s much the same thought process I had after my major setting was nearly washed off the planet.

Second, there’s the belief that more research will help. Finally, I ‘fess up to my publisher that the project isn’t going well and agree—for the first time in my writing career—that I’ll finish the manuscript completely before it’s scheduled for production.

This was a wise choice and one I made several months ago. In the interim I have sorted through research and drafted some lengthy notes to self so that when the muse decides to dance I will remember why Hilea is standing on the edge of the bayou and Autumn is trying to make a buck at an Indian casino. Then there’s the names and colors of the eleven virgins in their final…and what does “virgin” mean anyway, after you strip away the layers of ownership concepts in patriarchal constructs that assign values to…and most amazing of all, the Ursaline nuns of New Orleans may have invented the beignet.

Okay, see above about too much research.

This project has been one of surprises from the outset. Sleight of Hand was meant to be a supernatural romance, and Ursula was supposed to run up the Jetway into Autumn’s arms, not Kelly’s, and only at the moment I was writing the scene did I realize she’d come home to the wrong woman.

So I stopped writing for a couple of weeks and thought that over, then bowed to the muse and completely revised my intentions. After that, the muse spoke and I typed. When it was time to write Seeds of Fire the same process prevailed. There was a minor incident where the muse forgot about the dog, but she informed me that was my job. We worked it out.

Rueful commentary aside, the silence from where the Tunnel of Light muse dwells has the feel of a long chill. On occasion there are quick flashes of insight to which I can only think, “Yes, that’s what I’m going to do.” But so far nothing wants to sustain like the fire that first began this series, and Forge of Virgins can’t be written without it.

I’m not in despair, I’m waiting. I can only hope that when the waiting is over that my readers will still be interested in the result.

In the meantime, once a book has received an ISBN assignment, it takes on a life of its own. It’s nearly impossible to put that genie back in the bottle and that means that the rumors of a book’s life can be greatly exaggerated. Even though the book was removed from production in December, the online mega-sellers continue to list it with an upcoming release date. Some will , no doubt, pronounce it available when the date passes and take a few weeks to realize that the book doesn’t exist. For any inconvenience this causes for any reader who has pre-ordered Forge of Virgins I do apologize.

And I further apologize for the storius interruptus. Hilea has been waiting for 1500 years to tell her part of the story. I promise it won’t be that long until readers get to hear what she has to say.

Karin Kallmaker
(Laura Adams)
May, 2007

© 2007

Awards for this Series