There’s a saying that the days are long, but the years are short. Well, that means the months are pretty darn quick themselves. It’s amazing how fast three of them just went by. I feel that a couple of things cause this.

First, I have life goals, and actively pursuing them tends to speed things up. Second, I’m in my early fifties, and time is incredibly precious now. When I was younger, with no goals and plenty of time (supposedly), the years never seemed to matter. I wish I had a different perspective back then.

The second quarter of 2022 is officially in the books and it’s time for another writing update.

Books Released in Quarter #2

I released three books in the second quarter.

The Ride-Along (written with Frank Zafiro) came out at the beginning of May. This was the fifth book in the Charlie-316 series and is a standalone tale.

Back Road Bobby and His Friends, the third 509 Crime Anthology, dropped at the end of May.

Cutler’s Cases, the fourth book in the John Cutler Mysteries, arrived at the end of June.

I also had a short story appear in an outside anthology. “Officer Safety” was part of Frank Zafiro’s The Tattered Blue Line.

There is only one book slated to appear in the third quarter: The Only Death that Matters, the ninth book in the 509 Crime Stories.

Books I’ve Read

My goal was to read 52 books for the year. For you from the 206-area code, that’s a book a week. I read hardbacks and paperbacks, and I listen to audiobooks. I buy them new and used or borrow them from the library. Any way that I can get my hands on a book, I do so.

Right now, I’m at 27 books.

I’m on pace to hit my target this year! I’ve never reached that goal in previous tries, so I’m excited to see it on the horizon.

At the end of the year, I will list all the books I’ve read. Let’s compare notes!

The Blog

My target for the year was a post a week, and I’m sticking to it. More than that, I’m having fun writing for it. The challenge is finding topics that will touch on various subjects. If I only talked about my writing, that would probably get old—sort of like going to a sausage factory to see how the stuff is made. I’ve never done that, and I would imagine it’s interesting, but if I went every week, I could see that how it would quickly get old.

So, I’ve written about other topics away from my books. I’ve told some stories about my past that (hopefully) revealed more about myself. I shared how and why I created The Bumbling Millionaire blog, how I attended six schools in three different states before graduating high school, and why I reviewed a few board games with the boy on YouTube.

There were also a couple of posts on writing subjects and things about the 509. Those articles were fun to write, and I’ll continue to explore both topics as I go forward.

I even “recycled” a couple of newsletter articles I wrote and turned them into posts.

The blog has been a wonderful outlet for ideas that don’t fit neatly into my novels or other creative outlets. If there are any topics that you would like me to explore, I hope you’ll leave a comment below.

New Writing

I get up at 4:30 a.m. every morning to start writing. I’ve been doing that for a couple of years, and I love it. The downside is I don’t stay up very late. When the clock hits 10 p.m., I’m looking for a pillow. I will break that rule for conferences, rock concerts, and the occasional night out, but most evenings, I’m disciplined at hitting the rack on time.

It might sound boring, but habits are the foundation of success.

With that said, my production has stayed steady through the second quarter.

I finished the second draft of Cozy Up to Danger, and it’s to my first beta reader.

I also completed the second draft of book 10 of the 509 Crime Stories. The title hasn’t been announced to my newsletter subscribers yet, and once they know, I’ll share it here.

I’ve passed 50,000 words on book 11 of the 509 Crimes Stories. I’m excited about how this one is coming out and looking forward to getting it into the hands of my readers in 2024.

There’s a lot of excitement in the 509 Crime Stories, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about John Cutler, Sam Strait, or Beau Smith. Each will seem some keyboard time shortly. It’s just that I’ve had some 509 stories burning inside me, and they needed to be told.

That’s it for the update!

Are there other things you’d like to know about?
If so, please leave a comment below.