When I started writing Blind Fury in early 2010, I didn’t realize how long the characters I created—both main and secondary—would be part of my daily consciousness. Sure, it took me four years to craft, revise, and finally publish the book, but it’s more than that.

Blind Fury spawned a series, so long before Jenna and Mick found their happy ever after, the secondary characters were swimming through my mind, looking for their own love match, stumbling into their own dark alleys. I’ve been brainstorming and plotting (as much as a mostly-pantser can) and scheming for Dan and Scott and Tara and Kurt and Caitlyn and Jason and Todd for years now.

I need to write faster—look for two more Men of Steele books in 2017, including Blindsided in February!—so I can get to all of their books (some of them overlapping 😉 ). I’ve come to know my characters better with every book, and I’m impatient to tell each of their stories.

(And even those whose stories have been told like to say hello now and then.)

Beyond the current series, I want to write about the other characters in other worlds who are calling to me, for whom I’ve also been pondering and dabbling with scenes for years. (Have I mentioned that I need to write faster?)

This is both the joy and frustration of being a writer. So many ideas/characters, and not enough time to write them all. Luckily, that means I have years of material ahead of me. But the really good news is that I love my characters. They’re partly the best and worst of me, and partly pure fiction, and I enjoy having them around.

When I started writing, I didn’t realize I was building long-term relationships with the growing list of friends in my head, but I’m not complaining.