What a year, emma right?

As I write this blog, America has 3.9 million COVID-19 cases, over 143,000 deaths, and 1.8 million recovered. On average, over the last week, we’re hitting roughly 60,000 new cases every day. Chaos abounds, but I hope all of you are staying as safe as you can.

I’m hunkered down, doing a bit of regrouping. I’d been working on several projects and had to take a step back to just clear the buzzing in my head. Step outside in the back yard and take in the sun, listen to the birds and cicadas for a while, and unplug.

Currently working on the third book in the Knucklebucket Thang series with John Boden.   Very happy there was a group read of the first book in that series—Rattlesnake Kisses—on Instagram recently, and it’s great to see people enjoying the tale John and I put together. It was a blast for us and this new part of the series is a ton of fun as well.

I’m also working on the final edits of a new novel — I finished the first draft last June, and I mean that literally. I never write that quickly, and to do the first draft of an entire novel in one month for me is…well, unprecedented. It felt more like dictation than actually writing, and when I finished the first draft, it felt like I’d exorcised a demon. In a sorts, I think maybe I had. It is by far the toughest novel I’ve ever worked on, in terms of both the research, as well as the content, but I’m very pleased with how it’s working out. More news on that as it develops.

As the edits not that are getting finalized, I’ve also been looking into a novel I began several years ago. I had written about 13k words on it before setting it aside for more urgent projects, and as I read over what I’d written, I was happily surprised to see just how goddamned creepy the story was. Lots of research on this novel as well, and because I truly want this to creep out readers, I’m taking my time to ensure it works well. I rarely, if ever, get that tingly gooseflesh feeling when I read a novel, but this one is doing exactly that to ME, so I hope that translate over to you.

Hope you’re all kicking ass and taking names. Stay safe. Keep reading and I’ll keep writing.