7th Inning Stretch

It’s the 7th Inning Stretch, and I need it. What does that mean, you may ask? It’s a baseball term. It means to stop, rest and reset, and then finish the game. Fans and players take advantage of this tradition. It’s also a chance to hit the concession stands and buy a last round of beer and snacks—any way to make money. Yes, I’m being cynical, but that’s okay too. I’m allowed to have an opinion.

If you don’t follow baseball, that’s okay. I only follow it during the playoffs, although I’ll occasionally go to a game now and then. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve gone.

Why the 7th inning stretch?

Now, you may ask why I am bringing up this? It’s because I’ve been on a marathon of writing during my vacation. I had eight straight days to apply myself to book five of the Consortium Series. As I reported in my last post, I made excellent progress. I hoped to finish out the time with three more chapters.

Alas, I only got two in, totaling about six thousand words. That’s okay. Try as I might, I couldn’t get my creative thinking to work yesterday. I woke up at 3:30 am and couldn’t fall back asleep. As a result, I was akin to a zombie for the day. So instead, I did four hours of research into things I wanted to incorporate into the book. I’m happy with that. The rest of the day, I rested or did easy tasks around the house that didn’t involve creative thinking. And since it was a national holiday here in the States, I slow roasted a rack of ribs on the barbecue. In case you’re asking, it came out great. One day, I need to add a smoker to my barbecue to give it that additional flavor I love when I go to my favorite BBQ joint.

Take me out to the ball game.

Now, I’m in the 7th inning stretch, and I welcome the break. In my head, I’m singing the traditional song rendered during this time, but my mind is actually working on composing the next several chapters. The action is heating up. As usual in my books, there’s death and an ongoing hunt for victims, perpetrators, and questions without answers. The characters answered some but as usual, more appear, frustrating everyone.

I can’t wait to finish this book. Like you, I need to find what happens to Sir, Avril, Senator Ladensen, his daughter, Shelby and Katie, and everyone else who is still alive. Plus, there are the mandatory new characters, each with their own problems, issues, and needs. Can they take the Consortium down? Even I don’t know the answer to that question.

Damn, my heart is beating a mile a minute just thinking about it. Is yours? If I can keep up this pace, you’ll be finding out by the end of the summer. Stay tuned.