Before I give y’all the lowdown on book three, I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone out there who noticed my book(s) and decided to take the plunge, despite the fact that my writing was an unknown quantity. Unless you’re lucky enough to be living a life of leisure (if only!), you have precious little free time and a limited entertainment budget, so the fact that you invested some of each to read one of my stories means a lot to me. And if you moved on to reading Deceiver’s Bond after finishing Deadly Remains—thank you so much for sticking with me! I know DR isn’t perfect. In fact, there are things in it that now make me cringe a little. Live and learn, right?

And I can’t thank you guys enough for posting your thoughtful reviews on the sites where you purchased my books. Not only does your feedback help me improve as a writer, but it also helps other people figure out whether they might like my stories. Word of mouth is super important for a relatively new author like me, so I appreciate everything you’ve done to help spread the word.

Okay, status …

More than a few of you have asked about the third book in Lire’s story—am I working on it and when is it coming out?

The short answer is: “Yes (feverishly), and late this year (if all goes well).”

If I had to guess, right now I’m about two-thirds done with the first draft, possibly more. I’m a pantster (I write by the seat of my pants), so I don’t always know where things are going to end up. At any given time, I might have a rough direction in mind, but once I wind things up and let them go, the story can sometimes veer into places I didn’t initially expect. Which is why I can only offer a rough estimate of my progress. That said, I’m pretty sure my goal of a solid first draft by early summer is just about right.

Once I finish the first draft, my test readers get to pick it apart and then we’re off to the races with a round or two (or three) of edits and more test reading until we’re all happy with the results. I’ve come to learn that the editing process takes twice as long as I think it will.

Okay, I should get back to Lire. She and her friends have gotten themselves into a heap of trouble, and now I have to figure out how they’re going to dig themselves out.

-Kat-