I’ve started the new novel, Siren’s Call. Wrote about 1500 words today — possibly more, as I kept thinking of things I’d missed and adding notes to the pages.

While I’ll be keeping track of the word count myself, I’m probably not going to post it. I found myself getting too frustrated with it with the last novel. Just superstition, really. I didn’t write the last novel well, and I’d just as soon not repeat the process.

Siren’s Call is set in New Orleans, and the city is kind of a character. Clockwork Kingdom had a very fast pace. Zydeco Queen had rich description, but the pace was lacking. Siren’s Call needs to have both rich description as well as a fast pace.

I recently finished How to Write a Damn Good Thriller as research, figuring I could use some of the techniques for thrillers in this novel, to help with the pace. So that’s the challenge for myself, to learn and practice this novel — both pace and description. Atmosphere and page turning.

The process for this novel has been a little different so far. It’s felt more deliberate, less like jumping off a cliff, more like an easy glide. But it isn’t falling, either.

This morning the writing felt additive, for want of a better word. That was the problem with Zydeco Queen — I followed too straight a path and missed the lovely discoveries along the way.

For example, this morning, a part that came out of the blue was about Buddy, the landlord of Cai’s office, and how she pays him in barter. Another example — how working at a restaurant or shop would drive Cai crazy, having to be in the same place all the time, like a cage. Or Amita and her special-needs son. There’s just so much color that’s showing up automatically, without being forced.

I love writing like this. I can’t explain how it feels to dive into the deep end like this. I used to fight it, fight this obsession, where my worlds and my characters became everything. I don’t, now. This is my life. And while I’m not perfect at it, I am learning to balance it.