Hey everybody!
Sorry for the radio silence recently…school and papers kicked my rear end, and then Spring Break was a blessed relief that also included tons of amazing days out doing stuff with my family (and my awesome roommate, who came with me). There’s not a lot of Wi-Fi up in the mountains, so I’m gonna use that as my excuse. 😉
There’s one other project that kept me busy, but this one I think you’ll approve of…I finished writing Midnight’s Wings, the third book in my Secrets of the National Parks Collection!!!! For those of you who’ve followed my writing for a while know that this book was a long time coming…nearly four years, actually. But the rough draft is finally finished and it’s currently with my super-cool editor (a.k.a. my Mom)! And hey! I actually met a writing goal for once! (Of course my goal was to finish it before spring break, and I finished it during spring break, but let’s ignore that part…I gotta take my victories where I can)
I don’t have a clear estimate for release yet, other than sometime this summer. Editing the thing is going to be interesting, since it involves reconciling 17-year-old writer me with 20-year-old writer me, so I’m not sure how long it will take. But the fact that I’m even to the editing stage has given me new energy, so I have hope that it won’t be too long.
Finishing writing Midnight’s Wings also means another bit of good news: I get to start on the next book in the Agonizomai series! I don’t want to steal the thunder from Midnight’s Wings, so I won’t give too many details away right now. But this is a book I’ve been dying to write for months, and I cannot wait to share it with you all!
I have more writing to do (and technically homework), but I’ll leave you with an (unedited) excerpt from Midnight’s Wings…
“What is it like to fly?” Phoenix asked. “I mean by yourself, without a pegasus or dragon doing the work for you.”
Midnight’s Wings, Maegan M. Simpson
“Hmm…” I tipped my head back and stared through the trees. How could I explain it? I closed my eyes and sifted through countless memories of being in the air, but I couldn’t come up with the words to explain it. I glanced at Phoenix. Her chin was propped on her knees, and she was watching me with trust, patience, and no small amount of curiosity. As I looked into her stormy eyes, I felt words meld in my mind. Caution warred against the need for the words to escape. The words won.
“What is it like to run?” I asked Phoenix. “Or to see, or to listen? What is it like to feel water rushing past your fingers? How do describe something so much a part of you, you can’t imagine life without it? Is there a language capable of describing such experiences? If there is, I don’t know it.”