Back At It

I put so much effort into putting in the final touches of Dark Water and getting the manuscript out to publishers that I almost forgot that I had already started work on the next book in my Calloway and Hayes series, The Watcher.

Since I've been done with Dark Water, I've been keeping myself busy. I tore up the carpet that ran up our staircase, sold some of my old camera gear, got familiar with my new camera, and visited with friends. In December, I signed up with a film casting company as a background extra, and last week, I participated in two movies.

But I want to keep my writing up, and even though I don't know if my crime novel will be published, I want to jump right in with the next case. I think showing a publishing house that you're not a one-trick pony for murder mysteries is a positive thing.

The first thing I'll need to do is read what I have. It's been so long since I wrote the first five chapters that I've almost forgotten what the story is about. I remember that it takes place in the ByWard Market and that there are two storylines.

When I was writing Gyeosunim, the sequel to Songaengnim: A Korea Diary, I wanted to have two distinct storylines and I ended up writing three. The first one was the main timeline, which was set in 1998. A secondary timeline, which started the story, was set in 2019—20 years after Roland left Korea. But some of Roland's memories of 1988 creep up during his 1998 timeline and introduce a whole different story.

I think that's why I abandoned that sequel: I was getting myself buried in the three timelines and confusing myself. I still plan to sort that out and will eventually finish Gyeosunim, but for now I want to focus on the Calloway and Hayes series.

Who knows? Maybe it'll become so popular that someone will want to create a TV series (yeah, dream on, Ross, dream on...).

Today marks my return to writing. I'm back at it. Stay tuned.