Hello, everyone. Been missing in action for a while on the blog, I know. I’ve been going through some health problems as well as financial concerns. Hopefully, everything will be resolved soon. Things at court didn’t go all my way regarding my ex and the child support/back support he owes but I’m ready to get past that and work for a better future. He just recently started paying the support again and the tax money will go to me but not sure when that’ll arrive and it will be a small amount due to his single status. He hasn’t paid his taxes for a quite a while because he knew I would get the money. The court commended me for being able to take care of my children and support them with minimal help from the state all these years. I strive to do my best for my children, anything less just simply doesn’t exist for me. And with Christmas almost here this all weighs on me. I can’t get all the things I want to for those I love but I think I’ll still please a few of them. I’m SO thankful to God for seeing us through everything and giving us a future to still hope for. They do plan to reduce the amount of child support due to the money he makes sometime in February, so I’ll have to prepare for that as well. So some wins, some losses. On the writing front, I’ve discovered that I have to go back and rework what I’ve done so far. I ran across wonderful blogs by The Other Side of the Story and I realized my novel was a premise novel and not a character novel like it needs to be. The story has to focus on the character and his/her problem. I was concentrating too much on the war and not enough on the personal stakes for my hero. So with some quick work, I’ve been able to discover layers to my character that I had no idea existed. It’s now all about his problem and how it co-exists with what’s going on around him. I need to continue to focus on this throughout the novel and I think, hope, I should be able to query in the spring sometime. It’s a good thing too, because most agents are closing their doors right now to submissions with the holidays. I do want to do some changes to the blog soon, so I’m trying to find the time for that. More on that later. I just wanted to touch base and let everyone know I’m still here, editing, slugging my way through life. God bless all of you and I hope the season fills your hearts with joy!!