So I've been MIA for a month. I think this is actually the longest I've ever gone in not writing a blog because I often put one out every week. But I have been fully committed to finishing this book, making it the absolute best it can be and getting it out in a timely manner, both for myself and for readers. Writing a "standalone" is so much more different than a series because you have to make sure all your ducks are in a row in ONE book. Even if you add others on, they're still separate stories, so you all but have to make ONE book complete, no cliffhangers, no unanswered questions. It sounds easy to stick it all in a single book instead of stretching it over the course of many, but for me, it's not. I'm so used to having things to go back to or to help move me along that I'm having to make sure that everything from page 1 until the very last adds up and makes sense. But it's been worth it. In the meantime, I've been editing like cr...