As you might have heard, here on the East Coast, we got a little bit of snow this week.  Emery and I always enjoy these “snow events”, as they are euphemistically called here.  After all, we both grew up in central and northern Michigan, where three inches is just another winter’s day and no one really starts counting until it hits feet.  This one got our attention, though.  I was stuck at home for two days with three kids who still haven’t gone back to school, while Emery risked life and limb to walk the ten blocks of trecherous Philadelphia streets to get to work.  But in a lot of ways, it was great.  I made lots of soup and had fun driving my 4WD out of parking spots everyone else still has to shovel, and Emery got some great pictures of the city.

Best of all, though, we had just finished the third book of Creatures of Sin, and swore to ourselves that before we started the next one, we were going to do at least one project that didn’t involve those boys.  That’s always hard, just because we know them so well and have so much more to tell in that world.  Starting with new characters is always a little trepidatious, kind of like starting a new job.  Are you going to like the characters?  Is the world going to be interesting?  Do you know enough about your setting and period to do a good job of it?  We’ve already had one couple crash and burn on us because we didn’t know enough about rally driving to fake it.  But we took a deep breath and launched ourself into another one.  So far, so good.  We’re certainly enjoying the characters so far, and while we might need a little research on the setting, it’s not something so technical and specialized that we won’t be able to manage with a little due diligence.  So now we’re settling in, getting to know the gentlemen in question and starting to let them whisper in our ears as we get to know them.  It’s rather exciting!  I’m looking forward to reading it when it’s done…