Sneak Peek (Another Novel on it's Way?!?)

Sneak Peek today--there possibly may be another novel on it's way...

There are many decisions to make in life, and this is an important one for me: 

Do I, or do I not post another novel?

Before I make up my mind, I'm treating everyone to a snapshot of my backyard last January after a beautiful blizzard. My cute little flamingos have flown away since then, which is a sad loss. I know I'll replace them, but how soon is the question. I'm hoping this environment they cheerfully endured--mountains of frozen fluff--will return soon, but I won't adopt a new flock until after the ground thaws in 2014.

So, onto the pressing question: should I post another novel?

Sure, why not?

I know you're hoping for another adventure with Jenn Washington, but that's not the one I'm going to post right away. 

Instead, I'll let you meet one of my favorite characters: Francesca.

So, here's the heads up so you know what you're getting into:

I'm LDS. That's short for being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, kind of a nickname. Also, we're called Mormons. And I'm a member who loves Jesus Christ, etc., so I'm about as mainstream as we get. That being said, this is LDS fiction. It centers around LDS characters. It's not preachy, if that's your concern, but it is human, if you're wondering about that too. Human meaning, people are people and no matter who you are, you have choices to make and consequences will follow. So, if you're not Mormon or LDS or don't know any Mormons or LDS, then you'll be introduced to us through my fiction, meaning, my own made up, conceived in my head, fictional story. If you're Mormon, it will flow as naturally as a Sunday morning. If you're not, and you're curious enough to read my novel, you'll find some terms make you scratch your head a little and say, "huh?" Don't worry, I'll help you out in advance:
Church: This is once a week on Sunday and it's a 3-hour block of 3 different meetings. Yep, we go every week! Sacrament meeting is followed by Sunday School, where youth boys and girls (ages 12 - 18) are in a scripture learning class together, then they split and boys and girls go to their own classes. Boys head to a priesthood class, and girls head off to young women's classes.
Mutual: Also called Young Men's and Young Women's. This is a weeknight activity for youth ages 12 - high school graduation. Sometimes the young men and young women join in activities together to serve, play, learn, etc., and sometimes they are with their own girl's or boy's group.
Seminary: this is a class held during the week day for youth ages 9th grade through graduation (that's 4 years) for learning the scriptures and gospel teachings. It covers the 4 main texts of LDS scripture: Old Testament, New Testament, Book or Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants. In Utah and some other areas where there are a ton of Mormons or LDS youth, some schools allow "release time" and students can take the class in a seminary building built close to the school campus. They are "released" from school and just walk across the parking lot, or street or whatever divides the school property from the seminary building where they take a class, and then they return to school. In areas where there is no "release time" option, most students take the class at a church building an hour (yes, 1 hour) before they go to school in the morning. So, if you figure out the timing for a class and traveling, you get the idea of how early that can be! (Some kids take home study courses because the option of going early isn't available.) In this book, the setting is Utah, so the seminary building is located adjacent to the high school.
Mission: This is what every young man is expected to serve for 2 full years at his own expense, and many young women serve for 18 months. Recently, a little over 1 year ago, the age requirement was lowered from serving at/after age 19 for young men to age 18 or high school graduation. For young women it lowered from age 21 to 19. That's a huge difference! At the time this novel was written the ages were 19 & 21. So, this is an "oldies" story now. (See, a good reason to post it!)
Standards: This is a huge category, but I'll just touch on a few: Dating after age 16 and not before is encouraged. No smoking. No drinking coffee, tea, or alcohol. No drug use. Modest clothing (skip skimpy, low cut, too tight, too short, nothing revealing, no vulgar pictures or sayings, no strappy tops for girls, etc.). No swearing. No stupidity. No Sex before marriage, in fact, keep the kissing down to basically zippo or only slightly more. Hand holding is okay. See, this is stuff the "world out there" considers 'Huh? You don't...?' (They often act as if they think teenage years should be: have fun, do anything, rebel, stir up trouble, don't let mom and dad know, etc.) We call the standards living straight, clean, pure and obedient.  Anyway, you've got the idea.

Okay, that's enough of that for now. The rest can be easily figured out as you read the book.

DETAILS: I posted my last novel one chapter at a time. This time around I'm planning on posting about 5 chapters or so at a time. Because I'm working with 2 'working copies,' it may take me a few days to get them ready. (Wish me luck and speed!) And with not one, but two holidays coming up, it may take me a bit of time to get this ball rolling. (Okay, I'm already rethinking my plan. I just checked and chapter 1 is 15 pages, thankfully double spaced. That is nothing like my last novel! And I'm dealing with 160,263 words in one draft and 44,586 in the other? Something is happening here... Hummm...) Like I said, wish me speed and happiness as I try figuring this out!

Come back if you're interested, because I'm about to introduce you to Francesca...and she is nothing like Jenn from Secrets at Midnight.