“Cottonwood Hotel,” book 2 in The Investigations of Jack Ryland series, is complete! It’s now in the hands of the proofers and will be out for pre-order soon.

It feels good to be finished. Distractions of life, among other things, made it feel as though I never would be. I read over what I wrote countless times (more like five or six) to get back into the book, only to have my efforts to write, waylaid yet again.

But it’s done. Whew. Now it’s back to “Failure to Engage.” The plot to this book hit me hard while writing “Depart the Darkness.” Scenes and dialogue played over in my mind until finally I wrote ten pages of notes on it, and still it persisted. Justin and Laney were in a major hurry to get their story written. I was doubtful about writing it at all. It’s kind of different in a way. Then I realized I had no choice but to write it, because if I didn’t, I’d never be able to get back to “Depart” and finish it. And so I did. Long before I reached the 147 page mark, I was glad Justin and Laney were so persistent. It’s good, and in some ways I have no idea where it’s going. I thought I did, but then a character named Gabriel stepped in and spared Justin and Laney a lot of grief. That was very cool to see, and I am so curious about this character, now! There are two mysteries involved in this book, and a lot of characters, including those of the furry variety, so it’s far from done. Instead of being at the halfway point, it might be a third of the way through. Maybe.

Happy reading, and now I’m going to find out what happens next in Justin and Laney’s story.