It's been over two months since my last update but there's a good reason for the lapse: I was participating in the 2005 National Novel Writing Event.
Because I was working on Marching to Zion, the intent of this year's novel was to focus on my areas of weakness: dialog and description; important elements for a novel. So I took an idea that I conceived back in 1995 and finally wrote the story during this year's NaNoWriMo event. The result was incredible.
Not only did I write the story in forty days and finish NaNo with the highest word count in the state of South Carolina, I ended up with a story that absolutely blew me away, as it did the person who volunteered to read thought it as each chapter was finished.
Because I focused on dialog and description, the story opened up from the very beginning. Characters and backdrops came alive. It was an incredible experience and I can't wait to finish the second draft that I'm currently working on.
I plan to resume work on Zion but it's obvious that my writing style has (thankfully) improved. I can't wait to see the final product for both books.