![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ali-12-ManOverboard-half-199x300.jpg?resize=199%2C300\")
<\/p>\nWhen I first started writing books, I was still in the insurance business. \u00a0After sales campaigns, there was always a celebration of some kind\u2014usually a banquet\u2014where the top sales agents would be honored. \u00a0As a writer it made sense to apply the same rule to finishing books, and my kids soon adjusted to the idea that, once I finished a manuscript, we\u2019d have a dinner out. \u00a0Since this was something they liked, they started asking about when it would happen. \u00a0In a variation of that familiar traveler\u2019s lament, \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d they would say, \u201cAre you almost finished?”<\/p>\n
In writing books the first 20% is the hardest; the middle 50% is moderately better; the last 30% is usually dead simple. \u00a0That\u2019s the part where, whether you\u2019re the reader or the writer, you want to keep going until the end. \u00a0I call that last part of the book the banana peel. Whenever I answered their question with \u201cI\u2019m on the banana peel,\u201d they knew our celebratory dinner was near at hand. Eventually the question morphed into, \u201cAre you on the banana peel yet?\u201d<\/p>\n
Years passed. \u00a0My daughter was a senior at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington, when a food fight broke out. \u00a0She came home that day and told me, \u201cMom, you\u2019ll never guess what happened. \u00a0There was a banana peel in the hallway. \u00a0Someone stepped on it, and down they went. \u00a0Now I know what you meant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alas, I thought they knew all along. \u00a0I was just stuck on my side of the generation gap. \u00a0So the above is my keeping a promise to blog readers about why last week\u2019s blog was short but brief. \u00a0I was on the banana peel of the next Ali Reynolds book, Duel to the Death. \u00a0But this note needs to be a double-edged sword, so here goes.<\/p>\n
I used to be one of those early-bird Christmas people\u2014get everything wound up early. \u00a0That has changed. \u00a0Being on a banana peel and doing Christmas shopping are counter indicated. \u00a0I suspect that I\u2019m not the only one who will be out doing last minute shopping, but I have some good news for those who do. \u00a0Man Overboard, Ali # 12 goes on sale in paperback on December 19\u2014making it the perfect stocking stuffer for my DTRs\u2014Dead Tree Readers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And so, while I\u2019m wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I\u2019m also thinking good thoughts to those of my friends and fans who are in harm\u2019s way and staring down the barrel of those Santa Ana wind-fueled fires in Southern California. \u00a0Stay SAFE!<\/p>\n
JAJ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first started writing books, I was still in the insurance business. \u00a0After sales campaigns, there was always a celebration of some kind\u2014usually a banquet\u2014where the top sales agents would be honored. \u00a0As a writer it made sense to apply the same rule to finishing books, and my kids soon adjusted to the idea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33,3,150,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christmas","category-holidays","category-writing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3nsBA-oe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1506,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502\/revisions\/1506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}