A New Direction for My Novel
After three years of drafting, editing, and revising, I am embarked on the final preparations of my novel, previously titled: FOR WANT OF SCRIPTURE.
Writing novels is easy. Editing stories into good novels is notoriously difficult.
I sat down and wrote the first sentences of this story the morning of Sunday, July 9, 2017. I was on fire. I set the goal of a chapter every two weeks. Forty-four weeks later I had twelve chapters - having missed my deadline as many times as I met it. It was over 110 thousand words. It was terrible.
Twenty-four weeks later I had whittled away 14 thousand words and distributed copies to a handful of brave beta readers. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good.
A week later we lost everything in the Paradise Camp Fire and began a season of roaming our way north to a new home. As we rebuilt our lives, I tried to rebuild my book. Today, I start the final revision, and by the middle of 2021 it will seal it's fate - one way or the other - to be offered for reading or consigned to the trash.
Here's the elevator pitch: When a beloved local businesswoman is murdered in the sleepy town of Eden Ridge, her best friend and spiritual leader must use his knack for introspection and eye for human nature to help solve her murder.
More than a cozy mystery, the story examines the nature of friendship, grief, abiding love and smoldering hatred.
I'll be sharing more here and on Medium about the final leg of this long journey. Join me as I put the finishing touches on:
WHERE YOU WILL DIE
(Summer 2021)