The image above encapsulates the competing sensations and feelings I experienced on my recent, annual, winter, solo car trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There’s the exquisite peacefulness of staying in a remote, ocean-front cottage where I’m surrounded by sand and water. But there’s also a rift in solidity that exists here at the bottom end of a thin ribbon of barrier island that makes up this part of OBX. A rumbling of not only the pounding waves that crash against the pilings of my deck at high tide, but also an exciting tension in my mind as I start to tackle the concepts and themes of my new novel.
A New Year, a New Book
My time-traveling science reporter—Tom Cook—is back! … for the sequel to Neander: A Time Travel Adventure. The new book, Neander: Exploitation, is now published, and this time around our hero faces new conflicts and threats: a biomedical plot, a battle for Neanderthal leadership, exploitation, and just plain old greed. But don’t worry, there are uplifting parts, too!
Equinox Exploitation
Exploiting the Autumnal Equinox (it’s today)??? Well, I do like to use the earth’s four seasonal markers to talk about my book writing. And today marks an important point, just like this fall equinox does (halfway to the winter solstice, when day equals night). I’m finalizing the “polished” 1st draft of my new novel.
Midway
I like to write about the turning points of the seasons, the so-called “four posts” of the astronomical calendar. In this case, the longest day of the year (for the Northern Hemisphere): the Summer Solstice. Today.
It’s the midpoint of the year for me (the year starting at the Winter Solstice). And for summer, it’s roughly midway in the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest.