Intermission

Take a seventh-inning stretch

Time for a little break. I haven’t done this at all since I started posting chapters of Things That Can’t Be Broken at the end of August, 2024. Call it an intermission or maybe a seventh-inning stretch. It will give you all a chance to sing about baseball and those little boxes of popcorn and peanuts covered in molasses caramel.

A shot of my nephew for added cuteness

Well, they used to be little boxes back when everything sugary that came in a box contained a prize at the bottom. Are you singing now, or are you looking up when they changed the CrackerJack® packaging? Talk about sticky marketing.

My goal has always been to finish this novel draft within a year. I’m still well on track for that. It’s not the story that’s holding me up; I love what’s coming and I’m happy with where it will land. The next chapters are all here in my head and I can’t wait to get them down for you, but my body is asking me for a break.

I’ve had some eye issues and headaches that have put off my writing since the tail end of last week. I’ve seen the doctor and things are improving, but I don’t want the story to suffer for my stubbornness by hurrying through the pain. So I’m taking a short break and offering you this Intermission.

You’ll meet Rebecca Smith soon in a chapter I’m calling Headphones. Kiko is going to help make the introduction. You will notice the two of them have a few things in common, and . . . well I won’t give too much away yet. Rebecca has been on my mind a lot. An older version of her may be the main character in a future speculative fiction adventure that’s been tapping me on the shoulder lately. We’ll see.

Please enjoy the intermission/stretch. Be sure to eat a chocolate chip cookie for Dani too—maybe after you go online and order the popcorn treat you were singing about.

Thank you for reading!