December 2019

Published Duel at Sea IV. It's available on Amazon and Kindle. Looked at the finished paperback book and it looks as good in print as it did on my computer. Waiting to see what the public reaction will be to the latest in the Duel at Sea series.

November 2019

It appears that I write 10K words every three weeks. I wouldn't have known that stat except for tracking it on this blog. The result of that production is that on November 15 I completed the first draft of Duel at Sea IV. With a weekend to rest the tired neurons I'll probably get back to the story for editing and rewriting as necessary. Cover will be much like the previous novels. 

A new story is already whirling around inside my head, but it, as usual, will have to wait until the current novel has been published.

Sept/Oct 2019

Passed the usual obstacle of 40K words on Duel at Sea IV. The pace will pick up now that the ultimate battle is about to take place. Some surprises amid the action. Berg has been through a similar situation when he commanded the Blaylock. Will he come through this battle as he did the previous one with The Ghost? Only the Shadow knows.

August 2019

Good progress on Duel at Sea IV. Have passed 30K words with the plot developing as I planned with the outline. Many new characters with backgrounds fell into the story and the original ones became more interesting as I watched the plot unfold. 

No completion data yet, but many times the last 20K words (of 60K) go pretty fast and that might well be the case with this novel. 

July 2019

Great to be healthy again. The past few weeks have allowed much progress on the latest in the Duel at Sea series. No end in sight yet, but that will happen as it always does. Even at that another murder mystery pops in and out of my head. Nothing concrete, but interesting possibilities. It will have to wait its turn as Duel at Sea IV has priority.

June 2019

After a couple of weeks the attacking virus was subdued and health returned. Along with that good news was an increased volume of work on Duel at Sea IV. One of the downsides of working "on the fly" is that ideas of who and what the characters are all about pop into mind so a go-back to the beginning of the character is called for. Not a bad thing because it gives fullness to the narrative and allows a brief respite from having to flesh out the plot. Interesting to note how much the actual writing differs from the plot outline developed before the onslaught of the viral attack. Still, any changes usually read for the better and I'll not argue with the muse that drives the flower and drives me.

May 2019

Been an interesting month. Finished the notes and potential chapters for Duel at Sea IV and the month seemed to be going well. The last week when I'd just started writing the story of the novel I found that the old version of Microsoft Word wouldn't remove a page number from the title page. OK I'll have to get a newer version. The problem was that since I was using Windows 7 the 2019 version of Office wouldn't load, so it was back to the 'net to get a version of Windows 10. The installation was tedious and reminded me of my days as a consultant when I was constantly upgrading. Finally the system (with a MS tech's help by taking over my computer) changed to Windows 10. Then I could install the new version of Office.

Meanwhile I encountered a nasty virus that produced an even nastier bronchitis. So the last week of May there was little work done on the novel. 

Looking forward to better health in June as well as more work on the novel.

March/April Murder on Fat Alley

After much thought and some rewriting the book is finally out. You can check it out with the following link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1093404485/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=murder+on+fat+alley&qid=1555200164&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull

February 2019

Work on "Murder on Fat Alley" continues. The cover is finished and a last run through of the novel's content is on tap. Publication should occur early March.

Jan 2019

"Murder on Fat Alley" is progressing with the 1st reading/editing completed. I'll let it sit for a while and then go back to see what else needs to be done