May 2020

Just reached the 38K position in the new Dawes novel. Forty thousand always has been a relatively difficult barrier to overcome. I don't know whether I've programmed myself to lose the thread of the story when that barrier appears or whether it's the summing up of the character mix intertwined with a plot that doesn't always appear to be ready to make the leap to 41K and beyond.

In the past it has taken tenacity and the will to stare at the blank page until enough thoughts have coalesced so that the path to the end of the story appears and reduces the next 20K to a doable run. So, we'll see said the blind man.

April 2020

Being at home has provided time to work on the new Dawes novel. I've just passed 25K on the story and have designed the cover. 

San Francisco in 1879 was both a dangerous and a safe place, depending on where you were geographically. And it also depended on how much money you had at your disposal. The anti-Chinese sentiment was still very strong, although Chinatown was pretty much left on its own unless as pointed out in my novel "Celestial Moon" vicious murders occurred within the confines of that enclave.

The new murders depicted in the latest Dawes novel are the kind that newspapers love for their macabre details. But the merchants and other high rollers in the city were aghast at the language used by the reporters and editors and wanted the newspaper owner of The San Francisco Chronicle to clamp down on such effusive and disturbing words to describe the goings-on.

So, the next 35K words should provide enough clues to Dawes and his loyal friend Sean O'Flynn to resolve the murders.

March 2020

Good progress on the latest Peter Dawes murder investigation. Many new characters and some from previous novels. This investigation is extremely difficult as there are no clues to begin with. A potential lead and witness might turn out to be fruitful, but we'll have to wait and see on that one. 

Some books that have snagged readers: Herlong (paperback buy), Akasha (Kindle read) and Sweet Drop in Africa: Charity (Kindle read). Thanks to all that have taken the time to read them.

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.