Hey there! Man, it seems like a while since I last landed in your inbox. Things have been cracking on a-pace. My nest has emptied and it feels more permanent this time, but I'm happy the boys and their friends are back living their lives as young people should. I shall now have to find something else to do for the rest of my life.
Oh! I know. Perhaps I'll write a book. 😊 I have been writing diligently and thought I'd give you an update on my latest work in progress, Inspector Graham, number 8. Drum roll please…
Jigsaws and things…
I'm currently 62K words in, most of the plot is pinned down, with a lot of red pen swordsmanship to undertake. To use my oft-quoted jigsaw metaphor, most of the pieces are in place, including all the important ones. Now, I'm onto the white pieces.
Talking of jigsaws, here are few I've done recently.
Cover and blurb…
I commissioned the cover for the book last week. I'll share the sketches and artwork as they come in like I normally do. I'm excited to see what Richard, illustrator, comes up with.
I won't share the blurb yet, but I thought you might be interested in what I found myself doing this past week in the name of research:
- Reading vintage crochet patterns.
- Learning that there are a 100,000 hairs on the average head. (Blondes: 150,000.)
- Reviewing a film crew hierarchy chart. (Accounts people are at the bottom.)
- Listening to an audio of bus noises (12 hours long! I listened only for a minute or so.)
- Watching a Youtube video series that could have been dubbed Survivor meets Antiques Roadshow.
- Writing a section about putting on a seatbelt. Writing a sentence is often an evolution – I started with “I put a thing into a thing” and went from there. 😊
Such are the journeys an author may embark upon. If you can come up with the plot from that little lot, you have some imagination!
Working Title
The current title is The Case of Sampson's Leap. I'm 80% certain this will be the final choice, but reserve the right to change my mind.
I am hopeful this will be a November release. I hope you are more excited about this than Star who only seems to care that I pay attention to her!
Happy reading!
