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I suppose I should be blogging about this on my website, but I feel like that's a more formal place and I'm really just nattering? In any event...during this morning's pre-work writing session, I opened up the Scrivener file for Mistress of Shadows and started populating it with roughed out chapters and content outlines. I have several documents of disorganized notes for various plot events and characters. I have a clear sense of the overall shape of the story, though not all the details about how to get from here to there. I also have a good idea of some of the topics I need to research that are both trivial and essential. (Top two: the likely everyday cultural-religious practices of a working class Islamic woman in early 19th century France; and the legal status (and everyday consequences thereof) of a black woman, ditto. I have basic information and some solid leads on more detailed sources.)

What's Mistress of Shadows? It's the 5th Alpennia book, next after Floodtide which won't be out until late this year. It's the story of how Barbara finds herself again after a disabling injury that shakes her sense of self to the core. It's the story of how Serafina confronts her past and claims her future. It's the story of how Efriturik ponders just what he would be willing to sacrifice to claim the throne of Alpennia. It's the story of how a multi-national coalition hunts for the sorcerers who threaten to devastate Europe with forbidden magic. It's the story of Zobaydah, who traded her future, her honor, and her pride in exchange for safety for her family and now is trapped in a web of intrigue from which her only hope of escape may come from her deadliest enemies. It's the story of those who wait at home in Alpennia for the ones they love to return, unsure whether to hope they return changed or unchanged. It's a story of love, of loss, of loyalty,  of triumph, of trust, of treason, and of murder.

*rubs hands together*

This is going to be fun.