Maybe 7 is a lucky number after all.

It was 7 years ago that I moved into my new Abbey, which eventually led me to begin this blog.

It was also 7 years ago that I began the first draft of a new novel that I expected to be quick and easy to write. After all, it is a sequel. I already had developed most of the main characters, the setting, the genre (cozy mystery). I already knew the steps in the procedure: write, write, write, revise, revise, revise.

My second biggest surprise is that it took so very long to reach this point. And where is this point? Almost to the finish line.

My biggest surprise is that I finished the book at all. There were so many times that I put the project aside, only to resume work after months away from it.

Yet here is the awesome cover, created by Mark Lobo, the genius designer that I worked with at The Woodstock Independent and, later, at Indepth Graphics and Printing.

The cover is ready to go, and very soon the interior of the book will be too. My genius editor, Kelly McNees, is finishing the copyediting this week.

From there, the manuscript goes back to Mark for interior design and then off to be printed. I’m hoping the book will be available for readers before the end of the year.

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If you are on Facebook and you’d like updates on my novel, visit the book’s page, Teaching Mysteries 201: The Strike.