I wrote last year about wanting to someday participate in the Tucson Festival of Books, the annual festival held on campus at the University of Arizona each March. My wife and I have spent countless hours wandering the venues or listening to various panels on topics we might not normally have been interested in; I can’t tell you how many new authors we discovered as part of that process, or what it was like to see some of my favorites up close and personal.
I’m ashamed to admit I’d never heard of the Outlander series until Diana Gabaldon spoke at the Festival; her talk was so amazing, and her love for her characters so palpable I tracked down everything that was in print to that point and spent a few months binging. We were also fortunate enough to see Deborah Harkness just after the final book in her All Souls trilogy was published; I even had a chance to meet a childhood idol of mine — Katherine Paterson — when she was on tour for her memoir.
This year, a partial dream has come true: I was selected to appear as an independent author at this year’s Festival. While I’m not going to be speaking on a panel, I will be in one of the main pavilions, talking about my latest works. It’s insanely exciting and represents a next step for me in this journey as writer; I have absolutely no idea if anyone will actually swing by and visit, but even if they don’t, just being there, talking with other indie authors as an author will be an amazing experience all by itself. (Yes, I will have books with me that can be signed — once I have a link to the exact time and location, I’ll update my website with the information on how you can find me.)
In other news, I’m about halfway through writing the next novel in the Sean Colbeth Investigates series — far enough along that I’ve added a page for the book to the site. I’m still not sure I am going to stick with the working title I selected… but it’s been growing on me. This one has been interesting to write — yes, I know I say that about all of them, but honestly, each of my novels feels just as much like a new adventure to me as a writer as it (hopefully) does for you as the reader. One of my fears is to repeat myself, or to take a shortcut that diminishes the impact of the plot; and, of course, there is always the tiny little commentary on society I try to weave into each story, too. Keeping all of that fresh and exciting can be difficult, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit to loving the challenge.
I’ll continue to post updates as I finish writing Buried during the course of February; after that are some edits to Focus to get it ready for publication… and then Camp NaNo is on the horizon! I’ve still not decided if it will be the next Sean novel, a Vasily novel or finishing the work I started on my urban fantasy mystery last November. I have a few weeks to decide (and the balance of a novel to write), so stay tuned.