After struggling with increasingly dry eyes and eye allergies that made wearing the gas permeable contact lenses I've worn for over thirty years become extremely uncomfortable and difficult to see clearly, I recently switched to wearing soft lenses. Even though I knew they were usually more comfortable for people who fought the same issues I did, I fought making the switch. My hard lenses helped to keep my vision stabilized for years, and they were easy to care for and pop in and out of my eyes. Watching friends and family take care of soft lenses, not to mention taking them out, I wanted no part of them. It looked like they were putting tiny pieces of Saran Wrap into their eyes, and I couldn't fathom how they took them out of their eyes. It appeared they pinched them right off their eyeballs!
I've now had soft lenses for a month and still have issues some days putting them in and taking them out, but I have improved to the point, that if I am lucky, I can put them in on the first or second try. They still feel a bit cumbersome, ready to slide off my finger and into the sink if I don't balance them on my finger just right. But what a feeling it is to hold down my lower eye with one finger, center the lens in my eye with another, (without blinking is key!) then listen to the lens crinkle into place. When I hear that noise, I know vision in that eye will soon become sharply focused.
Not only are things becoming increasingly sharply focused as I get used to caring for and wearing my new lenses, (after a couple of switches to my prescription, I can see great, and they are very comfortable) but my work in progress, Leaf Peepers, the sixth book in the Nature Station Mystery Series, is becoming more focused as well. I have chosen a well focused front cover image of maple leaves exhibiting bright fall color for the front cover and narrowing down images of a Lake Michigan sand dune for the back cover. The book takes place in the late summer, while my main characters are planning an ecotour for so-called leaf peepers to view lovely fall foliage along the south to southeastern shoreline of Lake Michigan.
The story still has a long way to go, (over 50,000 words to write!) but I am now at the point that not only do I know who dies, but also who killed him, and how and why it was done. It may seem silly not to have that all figured out before I start writing, but this is my process, and once I get to this point in the story, things click into place, allowing the rest of the story to come along quickly and more sharply focused.
Since the main characters travel out of town, several new characters must be introduced and fleshed out to help Kristen Matthews and her amateur detective friends solve the mystery. After not being able to work on Leaf Peepers much for the past few months, I'm getting back to work and hope to have everything ready for an early fall release, since the story takes place over Labor Day weekend. This positive feeling is almost identical to the feeling I have when my lenses are in place and helping my peepers see clearly.
