Update – Writing, writing, writing every day. Getting the words in. Working on discipline while drafting, which has not been a strong suit in the past. Listening to a lot of film soundtracks, and—oddly—video game soundtracks, while I write. Love the music from Assassin’s Creed and the Robert Downey Jr. film version of Sherlock Holmes.

What am I writing? I know you guys are waiting for The Fire Sisters, and it’s coming, but first I’m finishing up a novel I started last spring before I got busy writing and releasing The Keeper and publishing The Defiance. This one is not in the Brilliant Darkness series.

It’s called Beyond the Mist, and here’s a blurb to pique (not peak or peek, folks) your interest:

Just beyond Land’s End lies the Mist. It writhes from the ground to the sky, opaque and mysterious, as the inhabitants of the town cheat, bully, and kill their way through their days, occupied solely with the harsh realities of survival. But however bad life is in Land’s End, and it’s bad enough, what lies beyond the Mist is worse.

Adults who go through the Mist rarely return. Those who do slump along the stoops of houses on the Low Street, sunken eyes staring from pale faces, or they’re out of their minds, raving about the horrors on the other side. Children who enter the Mist are never seen again. Few rules hold sway in Land’s End, but there is one law all souls respect: do not pass through the Mist.

Sixteen-year-old Sully barely pays the rent by picking the pockets of likely soaks and gamblers each night. When she chooses the wrong mark, a man who promises to reveal to her the sick depths of his cruel heart, she must make a terrible choice: stay in Land’s End and somehow evade the net closing in around her, or go beyond the Mist.

This novel is straight-up alternate reality YA spec-fic, no dystopias or post-apocalyptic scenarios. It’s been super fun to write. I promise to get back to Fennel, Peree, and company ASAP, but in the meantime, let me know what you think about the premise of Beyond the Mist.