KRISTEN SHELEY'S "PARTNERS IN TIME": Sam Foster is a fairly typical modern American teenager who just invented a time machine. He didn't mean to bring back anything from his first trip to the past, but he returned home to 2005 with more than he bargained for: Meg Clayton, a spirited pioneer girl from Oregon. Their lives - and history - will never be the same again.	Follow news of the series on LiveJournal and Facebook:

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Some Good News and some Bad News.

FIRST: The Good News is that my Muse that had been comatose in regards to "Partners In Time" has finally woken up. I can't say for certain what provoked this -- I have a few theories that get downright psychological in nature -- but definitely having my husband start reading the series aloud to our three kids is a start. It kind of forced me to listen to the stories in a way that was new...and renewed my own memories of the tales. I am not sure if other writers have this happen to them or if it's just me, but generally when it comes to writing fiction, I have AN IDEA in my head -- a scene, a concept something -- and it pretty much haunts me until I write it down. THIS CAN GO ON FOR YEARS. Then, once it is written, it is purged and goes away. This may explain why now, in my mid-40s, it is hard for me to remember all the stuff I've written over the years when it comes to BTTF fan fiction AND PIT. The plots and all that. I have a kind of amnesia.

So, no, I hadn't reviewed PIT in book form since Spring 2015, when I remember picking up my published ones out of boredom and needing escape from my first maternity leave. It's been almost a decade.

Anyway, my oldest son is really getting into the series and asking me things, so that also definitely fuels a Muse in a big way. A fanboy in my house.

A week or two ago, when they were nearing the end of PIT2, I started listening and enjoying the words I'd written, the characters, proud in a way I hadn't been before. And so Sam and Meg saw this opportunity to poke at me, prod me, give me new "visions" of stories I'd sketched out but hadn't written. And poor PIT6, all in a state of being paused indefintely. Internally, trying to assess this in order to see if it was legit or not, I realized: Yes, it is legit. This spark and inspiration is back for these character and the rest of their stories.

So what is the Bad News? I can't do much about it this moment.

I've never been someone who can just drop a story that's not done for a different idea -- not as an adult, anyway...my teenage years taught me a few things. So I am still committed with finishing my epic long stand alone story. It still is pursing me with visions I've had for closing on five years. This would be my "mystery with supernatural elements." It's split into three parts and I'm about 20% done with the third and final segment of something I call "the beast"; it is incredibly long, over 143k words at last count. The third segment will be the longest. Joking-not-joking that I may have it completed as a first draft in Summer 2025...or maybe 2026. Who knows? It's probably going to be my longest original story ever.

So once I have a first draft and it is off to be Betaed, I intend to put my attention back on Sam and Meg and PIT6. (Which I may just have to gut...that happens sometimes. I do recall PIT2 was a bit of a gut at the time.) This thrills me for a number of reasons, mostly because I wasn't sure what I'd do after "the beast" was done. That's a stand alone book; not a series.

I am still teaching full time. Married. Mother of three active elementary-aged kids. Weekends are chewed up with household chores, errands, and various child-related social events or commitments. So free time to work on these things is still massively compacted when it is not summertime. I wedge in a few sessions a week, get a page or two of progress where I can. Nothing like my output in my teens and twenties.

BUT. At some point, PIT6 will get an ending. (I am already making more notes on PIT7.) I have at least one person in my family who will nag me about it in person. And my Muse is the biggest nagger of all.

Just to mention again and keep it here: In Summer 2021 I started using Instagram to show where I was writing. A fun little photo essay I do not mind opening up to the world. And Facebook does have a community for PIT/Kristen Sheley fans that I established a few years ago. I would join or check those for more regular updates from me about writing.

At nine, she fell in love with writing and dreamed of becoming a published novelist one day. Kristen wrote the first "Partners in Time" book on and off between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one. It was finally published in October 2002. The latest book in the series, A Change of Course, was released in the fall of 2010. She is currently working on a new book that is not related to PIT. She hopes to have it finished by 2025.

In her spare time, Kristen enjoys photography, history, research, traveling, reading magazines and novels, and movies -- especially the Back to the Future films.