I Hate Leaving the Comfort Zone!

Sometime in the summer of 2014, the fourth novel in my “Light Riders” series will be released from my publisher and hopefully will make it into the hands of eager readers. I thoroughly enjoyed penning The Time Borrower.  After all, I was in my comfort zone. My characters went back in time to solve a murder, faced a number of obstacles and…well…you’ll just have to read it to find out the rest. 

After writing The Time Borrower, I decided to push myself into a new time travel direction – bringing someone into the future. And not just any someone – a psychopathic serial killer who actually gives me nightmares when I turn off the lights. Yep, this is a major stretch for me; and I am more than a bit uncomfortable. I’m downright edgy. 

This kind of book is meant to be a pulse racing thriller as its 15 year old protagonist, a gamer who’d prefer fighting his enemies on “World of Warcraft,” has to stop a flesh and blood killer who can hide in time. And while the “Light Rider” series relies on acerbic humor for comic relief, there is little to none in this venture. 

I find myself biting my lips as I write and struggling with the brutal imagery that I’ve got to create for Time Tracer. I haven’t felt this uncomfortable since last fall when I took an exercise class that I swear was designed by the United States Marine Corps. If I heard the instructor yell “Work it till it hurts,” one more time, I was going to work my way out the door and over to the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts. Yet, miraculously, I survived it. Not only that, but I signed up for the next one that begins in January.

I tell myself that if I could make it through an hour of solid torture a few times a week, surely my protagonist could outwit a brutal murderer. The good news is that I’ve promised myself a reward if he does. This summer when the temperatures reach over 110 here in the Valley of the Sun, I will immerse myself once again with the next novel in the “Light Rider” series.

What the heck! I hate leaving the comfort zone!