We definitely have tropical storm-force winds, though there’s been surprisingly little rain to go with them. However, the relative lack of rain has NOT meant that the water levels have stayed low. Yesterday at about 2pm I drove to Target for some shopping–taking a route that takes me through Madisonville and over the bridge for the Tchefunte river. The water looked a little bit higher than usual, but nothing too obscene. Around 4pm I took the same route to pick Anna up from after-care, and was shocked to see that the river was within inches of overflowing its banks and there was water threatening the roadway in several places. In two hours the water had risen at least four feet. Gotta love that storm surge! Later in the evening Jack and I went to an open house at Anna’s school, and on our way back home the river had most assuredly overflown its banks, and cars were parked all along the roadway as the people who lived in the area relocated their vehicles in an attempt to avoid the flooding.

Fortunately, our house is nice and high. :) For our house to flood would require a storm surge at least ten feet higher than the one Katrina produced. That being said, we STILL carry flood insurance, cuz you just never know.

In other news, I finished the first round of revisions that my editor wanted. They ended up being more complicated than originally expected because my editor pointed out a couple of serious timeline and consistency issues which required a couple of days of serious email-back-and-forth brainstorming to find a fix. I should also mention here that I am head over heels in LOVE with my editor right now, because even though I ended up with a lot of rewriting to do, there wasn’t a single suggested change that altered the premise or heart or feel of my story, and, in fact, everything she suggested only served to make the book better, stronger, and more of what I was trying to make it. I am so so so SO lucky to have an editor this awesome!

Since those revisions are done and the book has been sent back to my editor for the next round of red ink, I’m turning my focus back to book two in the series, of which I’m really hoping to have the first draft finished by mid-October at the latest. The cool thing, though, about going through the revisions and brainstorming with my editor for book one, is how much I learned about process and foundation and background–steps that my editor forced me to take while we were working out solutions to the issues the first book had. Suddenly I can see ways to solve the problems I was having with book two–which are based in the same issues (lack of foundation and background) that I ran into with the first book. I’m becoming a much better writer as a result, which I think is, ya know, kinda cool. :)