Hello dear friends and readers. A whole month has gone by and I feel like I owe you an update. I’m so excited that I have fewer than 10,000 words left to complete The Marco Polo Porcelain. My goal has been to make this volume, like The Franklin Key and The Galileo Ducat, about 80,000 words. That’s roughly 200 pages in a print edition.

What’s even more exciting is that the characters seem to be telling me how the story is going to end. This latest entry in the Threads of Time series has involved enormous research. I’ve never been to Mongolia, but then again, I’ve never lived in the 13th or 14th centuries either.

I’m not sure how you feel about AI, but for me, as an author, it is a godsend! I primarily use Gemini for my research and ChatGPT when I have a personal question. I never allow Gemini to write even one word of my novels (occasionally she tries but I have to tell her to stop!). Tu when I need to know what year Marco Polo died, or how you would go about finding a document at a monastery, that’s when she is really helpful.

I’d love to hear from you if you are successfully using AI for anything in your life. When I’m on ChatGPT, I’m usually asking things like “how do I recover a password?” or “how do I add someone to my Safe Sender list?”

People often ask whether there are things in my books that are true. Yes, whenever I can I use accurate historical details. In the Galileo Ducat, Aurora’s mother didn’t really jump in a World War II battle. But that battle really did take place. Does that make sense?

As always, thanks for reading. I don’t know what happens next after The Marco Polo Porcelain. Maybe another novel. Maybe another project like Dear Donald. I was fantasizing this morning about what it would be like to write letters to Presidents of the past—maybe Lincoln or Eisenhower of even Jack Kennedy. Let me know what think. Until then…..have a great summer! 

Happy reading, Marja