Snowbound!, book 5 in the Milligan Creek Series is now officially available for purchase in paperback and Kindle format on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and every other kind of Amazon. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, I've been unable to get copies to sell directly on my website, although you can buy the Kindle version here. With snow already falling in many parts of North America, this is the perfect time to read this winter-themed story, which takes place the week before Valentine's Day.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, be sure to spread the word by reviewing it on Amazon, Goodreads, or simply telling people you know!

After being snowed under with work pretty much ever since the pandemic started, which prevented me from continuing my work on Snowbound, book five in the Milligan Creek Series, I finally booked some time off starting last Wednesday and committed to writing 1,200-1,500 words per day on the manuscript while also trying to have some vacation time with my family.

​So far, I've stuck to it, getting up early to write for a couple of hours each morning for the past eight days. The good news is, I think I'm about about four to five days away from completing a very solid first draft (I'm the kind of writer who tends to re-read and revise as I go). Kierston is also hard at work creating the cover illustration, in between delivering groceries to people who are at high risk from the pandemic. If all goes according to plan, the book will be ready to go by the end of September. It's been a lot of fun to write, and I can't wait to unleash it on the world. Stay tuned for more updates!

I preach against procrastination all the time, arguing that it's a form of perfectionism, thinking you have to have all the answers in place before you begin writing. Instead, I tell students in my writing workshops that authors start out with a bunch of questions, and their stories are a way of discovering answers to those questions. Not only does that take the pressure off--you don't have to figure out everything before you put fingers to keyboard--it also makes for a more interesting story because if you didn't know something was going to happen, it's impossible for you to telegraph that to the reader.

All that to say, I've been procrastinating on Snowbound, the fifth novel in the Milligan Creek Series. Yes, I've been tremendously busy with other work, but I've also been fighting fear. Is the book going to be any good? Can I really pull this off again? Did I just get lucky the last few times? The same sorts of questions I ask at the start of any creative endeavour. 

However, now that I've put out a novel a year for the past four years, by the time April rolls around, writing the next instalment of the Milligan Creek Series feels like exactly what I should be doing at this time of year. Also, thanks to the coronavirus, some of my other work has slowed down, giving me a bit more time. That and the fact I tend to wake up early (unwillingly), sometimes as early as 4:30 a.m., means I have a bit more time on my hands. So, on Sunday, with about 2.5 chapters written, I decided it was time to finally get the ball rolling.

Now here I am three days later. It's 5:58 a.m., I'm well into chapter four, and I'm more excited about this book than ever. Furthermore, I've committed to write about 1,000 words per day on the book until it's done. So, about a month from now, I should have a spanking new first draft. 

That said, rather than working on the book right now, I'm writing this blog post. Another form of procrastination? It could be, so, time to get back to it . . .