When I began THE DICKENS MIRROR, I was about a third of the way through another book I thought I believed in.

There was simply no end in sight for a single bloody novel.

My problem was that I couldn’t finish the books. No, I can hear you through the paper: I see you fine and you’re wrong: it wasn’t writer’s block. Here’s what happened: after I finished THE DICKENS MIRROR, the sequel to WHITE SPACE, I couldn’t find another book in me to write. Even though I don’t practice anymore, I still try to understand what makes me tick and so I’ve been mulling over this very strange dark time in my writing life that began mid-last year. The thing about being a shrink is you spend a ton of time navel-gazing, mostly so you don’t mess up your patients. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Indie Bound One thing she loves about the neighbors: they’re very quiet and only come around for sugar once in a blue moon. Ilsa lives with her long-suffering husband and other furry creatures near a Hebrew cemetery in rural Wisconsin. The sequel, THE DICKENS MIRROR, will hit shelves on March 10, 2015. WHITE SPACE, the first volume of her Dark Passageshorror/fantasy duology, is currently long-listed for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a YA Novel. Bick is a child psychiatrist, film scholar, surgeon wannabe, former Air Force major, and now an award-winning author of dozens of short stories and novels, including her critically acclaimed ASHES Trilogy, Draw the Dark, Drowning Instinct, and The Sin-Eater’s Confession. Bick visits the lecture hall today to share her story, and offers a little insight into getting past the dark times. On the bright side, it happens to all of us, so we can take comfort in knowing that dark times don't last and others know what we're going through. JH: Writing can be a tough business, and most writers will go through bumpy patches at some point in their career (even the pros).

Draw the Dark by Ilsa J. Bick