We hit the Outer Banks for a few days this week and it was great, as always. For those who might be unfamiliar, that’s in North Carolina. For my first year or so in Virginia, I had no idea what those OBX stickers on cars were all about but that’s cool person lingo for Outer Banks, evidently. Am I partially writing this blog post just because I wanted to share my sunset photo? Honestly, yes (isn’t that a stunning sunset?) but I also wanted to talk a little about my attempt at taking a break from work.

I’m a writer so, unlike normal people, I gave myself a deadline while on vacation. The plan was to read my manuscript of Jump When Ready # 2 (still knocking the full title around). Just a quick read-through, was what I had in mind. Is it kind of obsessive that this was on my Kindle at the beach? Yeah, I know, especially since there are a number of books I’ve been meaning to read. Honestly, though, I didn’t ignore my family (too much). I just wanted to see how the story was working now that I’ve finished it and this was the first chance I had to sit and read from beginning to end.

The only problem is I can almost never read my own work without marking it up for line edits. Which I did. On a Kindle. Using the little notes feature. Right, I know. So now I have a few hundred tiny little notes to go through so I can make more edits to tighten things up. Not that I mind because I really like to be sure that the books I publish are thoroughly edited and well-paced throughout. I know what you’re thinking. Wouldn’t it have been easier just to bring my laptop? After all, a Kindle is probably the least recommended device for making book edits. In retrospect, yes, it definitely would have been better to have used my laptop.  But I was on vacation so I figured I wouldn’t need it.  See what I mean? I’m not normal. I’m a writer.

The long and short of all this is that Jump 2 will be coming out soon. In the meantime, I’ve been leaving Streetlights Like Fireworks at the $0.99 “book launch” price long past the launch since it really makes me happy to see that new readers are becoming familiar with my work. But I’m thinking I should raise that price back up again soon. So, if you haven’t snagged a copy yet, you can still get one on the cheap. By the way, it’s a really great beach read. And I already edited the heck out of it so you should be all set to just relax and enjoy your vacation.