I'm researching my second novel. After seven years of blood, sweat, and tears writing the first one, this one seems easier and yet more difficult. Easier because I have learned how to write a novel. More difficult because I now have a full time job that saps creative time. More difficult because I have a zillion ideas floating around and I can't decide where to start (although the novel has started -- three chapters and then some), and more difficult because now that people have read "Dance of the Hummingbirds," they want more. Well, that's a good problem.

But what about this +Vlfbehr+t Sword? (Pronounced oolfbairt) Archaeologists have found both authentic +Vlfbehr+t's and knock-offs. Sounds like copy-catting was alive and well at the turn of the first millennium. My son Robert introduced me to this thousand year old relic that is both mysterious and rare, urging me to do some research on it because it definitely belongs in my next novel. Fascinating artifact. Perhaps manufactured in Europe, perhaps Iran? No one knows, but this fine weapon has certainly captured my attention. And what's with the cross-shapes in the word?

Any thoughts?