Well, I guess right off the bat, I should say that Katrina has taken its toll on me. My moods run the gambit here and I find myself crying at each and every tale that I hear about that catastrophe. Brandon and I are going to be working the shelters as soon as the main hoopla slacks off. Does that seem weird? Well, it's just that there is a barrage of donations coming in so fast they can barely keep up with the distribution. And that is FANTASTIC NEWS!!! :) Right now, though, it's uppermost on peoples minds and staring at you from the local check out line at the grocery, but after the initial shock of it wears off, there will still be donations to be made and people to help. As someone said to me earlier this week, "this is a marathon, not a race" -- the donations that are stockpiled in the shelters for now will definitely help those who need it. And later on, when those same people are still in need and the donations may not come as fast, that's when we have to remember them the most. And I will. I'll be there with DH to do whatever they need us to do to help them.

So with that being said, I'm going to try really hard not to let myself get bogged down with the horrific news plaguing my state of Louisiana -- and the gulf regions of Mississippi and Alabama. I'm going to try extremely hard to focus my attention on the GOOD and the POSITIVE and hopefully to stay trained on my writing.

I've decided that while I love this story I'm writing, I'm going to try and finish my earlier work, Serenity's Chance. Kate Seaver asked for the full manuscript after she judged it for the Duel on the Delta contest. Now that she's moved from Dorchester to Berkley, I think I'll see if I can send it to her there. I mean, technically, she DID ask for it, right? Regardless of the house she represents, right??

So I'm going to work simutaneously on both books for awhile, even though I said I NEVER do that. We'll see. I'm back to my regular hours at work (meaning I work until 9pm) so I'll have some free time during the day to get some major writing done.

Wish me luck -- heaven knows I need it to stay focused these days... ;)