I've been neglecting this journal shamelessly even as I've been getting myself back into creative gear. Maybe just first gear, but still better than "park."

Now that Seven For A Secret has been published and all the excitement's over, Mary and I have got down to writing the eighth entry in the series. We've actually been wrestling with concepts and outlines off and on for months. A couple weeks ago we suddenly found ourselves with the usual 5,000 words and 60 scenes so I plunged into the prologue.

It's been quite awhile since I've written any fiction and it's a relief, even if I have been contemplating a hanging. It's much easier to just make things up than to try and wring some semblance of interest out of my own boring existence. (And maybe that helps explain my lack of journal entries too) Not that I mind a quiet life. I wouldn't care to be stalked by the crazed killer I'm trying to track down.

Actually, Mary and I don't go in much for stalking, or serial killers, or missing children, or gratuitous gore. We're not exactly bestsellers either. Hmmmmm... Anyway, we finally got down to writing the eighth book in our historical mystery series this week. I reckon we'll have 7,000 words done by this evening. The story is set during the Nika riots in Constantinople in 532, when Emperor Justinian nearly lost his job. The book is a bit different for us in that it is more strongly tied to real historical events and characters.

We'll still be pushing Seven For A Secret if the opportunity arises but now that book is....uh...history.