Summer's End and Long-haired Hunks!

It is now the second day of September. The wild asters are just starting to bloom and I took a picture of the first morning glory blooming on the deck on Sunday. What does this mean?

It means that summer is nearly gone. My garden is pretty much done except for the tomatoes, okra, and peppers. I've got some basil that looks great, but I've still got pesto in the freezer from last year, so I think I'm going to give it away to someone who's dying for fresh pesto.

My zinnias did quite well this year, and the cosmos are just getting started, but it won't be long before I'll be mulching leaves and shoveling snow. I looked at my apple tree on Sunday morning and discovered that the apples were all gone. Not a single one left on the tree, and there aren't any underneath it, either, so I can only assume that the deer have been fattening themselves up for winter while no one was looking.

I enjoy the fall. The cooler weather is always welcome, the turning leaves are quite beautiful, and there's less yard work to do. My neighbor mowed my field while I was at the lake, and it looks great. Pretty soon she'll bring my hay and the horses will be set for the winter, too.

This September I'll be finishing up Hero and trying to figure out some sort of story for the next book--though I don't have a contract for one yet. I hope I don't run out of ideas, but you never know how these things will go. I'd like to change the format again and write a book in first person from the male point of view, but I don't think they'll let me do that. It would be too much of a departure from the accepted norm, so it probably won't happen that way.

I've enjoyed writing Trag's story, but the experience has been a little bittersweet, as it was to mark the end of the Cat Star Chronicles series--sort of the way I feel at the end of summer. Writing about that core group of Zetithian slaves has been my life for some time, but now I have to move on to a new group who weren't among those few--probably don't even know them--and have never been slaves. I think it will change their attitudes considerably, and I'm not sure just what sort of personality they will have. My editor said she wanted three more in the series, but beyond the "Benji" character for Renegade, I haven't been able to come up with much. What do you think of a "Derrick" kind of guy who is basically a man whore and is selling his sexual favors to anyone with a few spare credits? Or someone who just settles down somewhere and is the guy next door? Any ideas? I hope so because I'm fresh out!

Hmm, maybe this guy will inspire me.

A cute, innocent, never-been-kissed sort of Zetithian guy?






















Or maybe this one who looks like he's been around the block a time or two and is a bit jaded?



























Or a really bad, BAD boy who will get you in all kinds of trouble?



























Let's hear your ideas, ladies. I need some inspiration!