It’s been a pretty cool week in terms of writing progress.

First of all, on Friday I finished The Outcast Duchess, book 2 in my Ladies of the Manor Series. Yay!! I’d been so close for weeks, and had it been a time of year that allowed for ignoring the outside world and writing…

But alas. It wasn’t. So amidst field trips and The Nutcracker rehearsals, I found what time I could and ended up writing 9,600 words on Friday to get me to The End. (No, I don’t actually type The End, LOL. I just sit back and breathe a sigh of relief and then shout out a loud “DONE!” for anyone within earshot.) For reference, that’s writing-retreat sort of numbers for me. The realm that I can usually only accomplish when all outside distractions are removed. But I managed it on Friday with a half day of school and then a couple blessed hours of solitude while my mother-in-law took the kids Christmas tree shopping. Well, and then my awesome hubby picking up pizza for dinner. And me ignoring that the kids ought to have been getting ready for bed while I finished the epilogue, LOL.

So now I’m reading through it before sending it to my critique partners. And on Monday I got the word that my editor at Bethany House had just finished her pass of book 1 in the series, The Lost Heiress. Always a relief to get the nod on the revisions I’d turned in and be assured that she loves it. =)

My thoughts then naturally turn to the third book in the series. I’ve written this whole series before in a different time period, so I already have a decent idea what will happen to my lovely Ella. And I gotta say, I’m pretty excited to focus on her. Why? Because she’s hilariously bubbly and optimistic. In this version of The Outcast Duchess, she has a note of whimsy she hadn’t had in my original version one I love. It’s going to be fun to see how she carries through on that when tossed headfirst into the action of book 3.

But it also makes me wonder what people really love to see in a heroine. Oh, I know we don’t ever just read one type, and we love many of them. But what’s your favorite type? My series, at the moment looks like this:

A young Diane Kruger is how I picture Brook, though with curly hair

1. Brook – the trend-setter. Bold, daring, given to mischief, quite likely to fly off the handle and do something impulsive that could get her into serious trouble…but wary about romance after seeing disastrous results in her family.

Emma Watson (styled sweetly, not for sexy) is how I imagine Rowena

2. Rowena – the outcast. Quiet, reserved, and seriously injured by relationships in her past. Rowena expects the worst from people and can’t quite believe herself worthy of love…until God and Brice prove to her otherwise.

Amy Adams in her role in Enchanted is pretty much a perfect Ella

3. Ella – the optimist. Always on the lookout for romance, Ella expects a fairy tale out of life…and won’t believe in anything less, even when reality insists otherwise. Ella is traditional, feminine, confident…and prepared to wait a lifetime to find true love, if that’s what it takes.

Which character type (or personality type, in reality) are you most drawn to? Which one (or a different one) are you?

Me, I’m an optimist. Guess that’s why I’m looking forward to Ella. 😉