I have finally finished the third chapter to "Wake of the Lake Monster". It's hard to really get started again. I have also gathered and sorted my research, adding copious notes on the Altamaha River and the Nahanni Valley. My heart is so full with the emotions that will be rife in the story, because it has paralled my life for the past 4 years. The third book in "The Cryptids Trilogy" is drawing to a close with the publication of this novel. It will be about vindication, reunion and fulfillment. Everyone will end where their triumphs and failures have landed them. As ever, life, even in fiction, is expedient rather than fair. As much as I love the attention this craft has garnered me, it is still a lonely work. When I wrote songs, performing in concert, I knew immediately the reaction of my audience. An author is much like a film maker. I cast my characters according to the plot of my script. I set the storyboard, the editing and the artwork. I do not have a large house backing me, and even so have had to struggle to get the product I envision to market. I do massive amounts of research, and have turned the world of cryptozoology on its ear with the herecy that an actual species, other than the one generally proposed, could account for Bigfoot. As I told a woman recently at work, it is a cultural thing for me. I have never seen anything out of the ordinary, but it makes the world less mundane to think something strange and wonderful could be out there. Some people ride roller coasters, others jump out of perfectly good airplanes. Me? I enjoy the hunt, the study to discover what is behind the historical and eyewitness accounts of undiscovered species. Whether they be the mountain lion in South Carolina or the ivory bill woodpecker anywhere, it's all the same to me. "Wake" is about the legendary creature named by the Tama Indians of Georgia for the river it ranges, the Altamaha-ha. I have my own feelings about what I believe it to be. Just as I don't believe that Gigantopithecus Blacki accounts for Bigfoot, I think it is too easy to chalk Nessie and her children up to pleisiosaur or zeuglodons. Amphibious reptiles and primitive whales have been done to death. It is time for reason and an acceptance of fact. It is my intent to turn another dogma on its ear. We are all entitled to our opinions. In this case, I am accepting a challenge. I will leave it to you to discover what that dare might be. I hope to move on with "Wake" over the Fall, to publish my 3rd novel in the Spring of 2006. After that, I have two other tales I would like to tell, neither of which involve cryptids of any kind. I will have covered with "The Cryptids Trilogy" things that walk, fly and swim. Don't get me wrong, Ian McQuade and I have come along way together, and we will part as friends. More like brothers. I have other things I want to do, all involving creative expression and making my own way. I'm glad that you will be there with me. As ever, I would love to hear from the thousands who have bought and read my novels. I have made many friends in the process, and that will probably be my greatest reward for writing 3 volumes over half a million words in length. It's been a wild ride. Remember, this Blog is yours, as well. Feel free to participate, and to post your thoughts and feelings. I appreciate you for making this journey with me, whether it is a new experience for you, or one that you've been with me every step of the way. Until next time, take care... D.L.