About the Novel...

Well, since you said *please.*

I'm torn between being honest ("I don't write for a living, and I've never been published") and avoiding my lifelong habit of devaluing my work ("It's not much, I'm not a real writer, you wouldn't care about it"). So I'll just skip both and tell you about the novel.

The novel is actually a habit, like smoking, that I've tried to give up several times but always return to. I first wrote it when I was 17, and was pretty darn pleased with it. Although I downplayed it when anyone asked about it, I secretly thought it was pretty much the last word in literary achievement. Okay, Jane Austen and Dorothy Sayers and C.S. Lewis were probably better. As for the rest of the world of literature, I had them crushed and vanquished. You can believe things like that when you're young and stupid (otherwise known as 17). I did attempt to have it published back then, and was rejected several times. The world is a better place as a result.

The reading level is somewhere between Young Adult and Juvenile. It involves a princess, her family's fall from power, and What She Learns From the Experience. The moral of the story has evolved as I have grown up, fortunately. Originally the princess learned that "If you aren't good enough, God will punish you." In the current revised version, she learns that "It's impossible to be 'good enough' all the time, but God's mercy is bigger than our mistakes." Better moral to the story, and a much happier outlook on life in general, let me tell you.

Originally, the thing was monstrously long. Like, 300 pages long. I had several friends who actually read the whole thing, for which they should get a Certificate of Affection. After several years of trying to rework it, I stumbled upon the perfect way to streamline it: I told it as a serial bedtime story to Ladybug and Titan. I quickly discovered the parts that didn't work, because Titan would chant, "Talkingtalkingtalkingtalking" whenever the action dragged. It also forced me to concoct a simple, interesting plot based on getting something accomplished, rather than deep character studies that I'm not actually all that good at writing anyway.

I'm trying to get the new version finished by the time my mother (who helped me write the original one) comes to visit next month. I hope to hand her the Princess Story Lite: Same flavor, 50% less fat! After that, I might seek publication, or I might be happy just reading it occasionally to the kids. At this point, it's no longer a creative passion: it's a mountain that I'm determined to move.

And that, since you said please, is the Novel.