No. 9

Only the Dead Will Whisper becomes the ninth in the Harry Landers series. The publisher calls them episodes. That's cool with me.

This particular episode takes place in the Upper Peninsula, a favorite locale of mine to use as a back drop. Harry gets an email from an ex-lover who needs his help in locating her missing husband, a ranger in the Hiawatha National Forest. A year has passed since she last saw him and her faith in the local law enforcement agency is waining. A search for Michigan private eyes leads her back to Harry.

I don't have any idea when the release date will be, though. The next in the production room is The Girl with the Dragon Wing Eyes, the one about the nineteen year old runaway with ties to less than reputable characters on the renaissance festival circuit. Harry gets called in to see if he can bring her home.

Still in the wings are The Udjat Eye, Satan's School for Scandal, and my favorite so far, Lake Solitude. It creeped me out the most as I was writing it.

In the Box

I typed 'the end' this afternoon.

Then I went back and re-wrote the last fifteen pages.

It is in the box. Tomorrow I send it to my reader.

I'm hoping the experience isn't just positive, I hope it is downright incredible. It would be great if propelled me into that world of full time fiction writer. I'm ready to retire from the day job.

MWA First Novel

Finally got my entry forms today. It came with my 'mystery' reader's name and address. This is kind of exciting. I look back and remember writing stories in first grade that held my peers attention. I won a Young Authors event. I started taking myself seriously in high school. I'm now 48 but refuse to give up on the dream. I'm just wondering when the dream became a reality or if it was always a reality. I think I dream of going full time, but I still like my day job, even if it at times it seems there is a conspiracy to eradicate public educators the way the Terminators went after Sarah Connors.

I'm at 55k words. I need 60k. I have time, I tell myself, to finish, to proof, to rewrite, and to finish again.

I do.

Yeah, I Should Be

Writing.

I have three stories submitted into the netherlands of slush piles. I'm not even sure what a digital slush pile looks like but I know I have two sitting in them right now. I also have an old fashion hard-copy story out to The Strand, a magazine that turns out to be about a dozen miles from where I sit typing this.

The bigger concern is not NANOWRIMO but the upcoming deadline for theMWA First Novel competition. I should have had the jump on this much earlier. I'm a little shy on the word count and I'm editing as I go.

I just looked at the time.

Enough surfing and blogging.

Concentrate because I should be...

Kindle Rankings

Yesterday was a somewhat exciting day for A Model for Murder. At one point it had an Amazon Kindle Ranking of #4901. I had been watching it off and on throughout the day. The ranking number kept getting smaller and smaller. It's impossible to tell exactly how many eCopies of it sold through Amazon, although one web site suggests that the ranking number equals around 15-20 sales for the day/week. It was #34 for short stories and #35 for hard-boiled noir. This morning I checked and it is back up to over 11,000 with it sinking to #75 for shorts and #95 for hard-boiled. Still, I claim this as a victory in my struggle for an audience. I know from the Mind Wings Audio site the CDs are being sold at convenience stores in New England. I'm the Hemingway of the interstate.

I also like how Amazon links A Model for Murder to 'People Who Bought This Also Bought'. Apparently A Model for Murder goes well with The Christmas Bus by Melody Carlson. Two authors linked without ever having met. Interesting this webbish world.