I'm being bad.

Yes, it's true. I'm working on a little pet project that's been in my mind now for several months, and it's not contracted and no one has paid me for it or talked about paying me for it or said one word about it, frankly. (This could, perhaps, be because they don't know it exists). But I'm having a fabulous time. Of course, the fabulousness is tinged by the fact that my calender says that I'm supposed to be working on my next Blaze. But I'm only one day behind, and the muse ... she is a tricky little wench.

The thing is, sometimes you really do have to go where the muse sends you. In this case, the idea jelled and jelled and jelled and jelled, and the other day I sat down with a screenwriter friend of mine and we talked through a few points that hadn't made it to that jelling phase. That was on a Friday, and I figured I could use the weekend to work on this project guilt-free. After all, a weekend is a weekend, right? (The answer: Not if you're a writer and not if you have a toddler. You take your writing time as it comes. But, hey, it seemed a reasonable justification.) So I sat down and wrote out the proposal chapters and emailed them to my Trusted Writer Friends last night and printed it out for my Trusted Husband. The feedback? Two thumbs up, which is great, except that now it's Monday and I've been working on the STUPID SYNOPSIS all day. And it's MONDAY. I"m supposed to be Blazing (let's not tell my editor, okay? Shhhhhhh).

I'm almost done, truly I am. And I really do need to finish today because I want said Trusted Writing Friends to give the synop a read before I email the whole thing to my agent, who'll be hopping a plane to Frankfurt the end of this week. And if you're keeping score, the bottom line is that I'm basically pulling a college-type allnighter to finish a proposal for a book that no editor even expects to land on her desk so that my agent can take it on a plane with her even though we realistically won't talk about it until she gets backs after the book fair. Sound reasonable? It might not be. But, like I said, that muse was banging at the door and insisted on coming in. So I let her. And now I guess she's staying until she's damn good and ready to go.

And the really cool thing? I LOVE this part! I absolutely love when the story just reaches out and grabs you (I'd write the whole book right now if I had just a bit more time. I don't. Sigh.). So I'm having a blast (even if it is late and even if I am dealing with a synopsis, ugh). And about the only thing that would make it better is if at the end of the day someone buys the book. Fingers crossed! I'll keep you posted!

(And in other news, I got the cover today for CARPE DEMON and OH. MY. GOD. I love, love, love it! I emailed my editor to make sure I'm allowed to post it, and once she gives the go-ahead, up it goes. Very much doing the happy dance here in Central Texas)