I have been idle on this blog for quite a long time, and I
thought I had better explain. You see,
it is the writer’s life that accounts for this.
I have been buried deep into the process of writing the ninth
Amish-Country Mystery, and I have not had time to spare for blogging. My creative process requires long stretches
of thinking and writing, and I become so absorbed with the details of a story
that I am able to think of very little else.
Just ask my wife Madonna. She
will often find me stretched out on a sofa, or leaned back in a chair, doing
apparently nothing at all. She asks from
time to time what I am doing, but she knows.
I am writing, even if it appears I am on siesta.
The ninth Amish-Country Mystery is proving a bit more
difficult than others have been. It is a
sequel to the eighth one, The Names of
Our Tears, which will be published on May 28, 2013, by Plume, a Division of
Penguin Group USA. And The Names of Our Tears was delayed for
over a year in the process of my switching to a new publisher.
At any rate, The Names
of Our Tears is off to a great start.
Early reviews are coming in, and the news is good. First, Kirkus Reviews gave it Starred Review
status, marking it as a particularly notable book. That in itself is quite an honor, but the
evaluation of the novel was excellent, too.
Also, Library Journal will include The
Names of Our Tears in its Mystery Series Lineup in April, and they intend
to use the cover of the book with their article.
So novel number eight is already out there working well with
those who have reviewed it, and novel number nine is busy working me over as
its author. And it is quite a good work
over that I am getting. There needs to
be plenty of time on the sofa for me during spring cleaning and summer’s lawn
maintenance. At least that is what I
tell Madonna. I know she
understands. I hope you do too, since I
might not post on this blog as often as I would like. Once you have read the ninth novel in the
series, I hope you will agree that it was worth the wait.