Love story

       As I look up at tonight's beautiful full moon, I can't help but think of another Valentine's Day in the full moonlight. Full Moon Friday, my next book, happens on a full moon Friday the 13th which just happened to fall on February 13, 1987.
       As I mentioned before, everything goes wrong and the staff of the Jordan Daily News is caught up in a monsoon of mishaps. But after Friday the 13th comes to a close, the clock keeps ticking. That's right. After swirling through a madcap Friday the 13th, Full Moon Friday ends on Saturday morning. Valentine's Day. All the craziness fades away and the story winds down to the basic elements. Love. Love times four. Four couples all facing different stages of romantic relationships.
      Full Moon Friday is really a romance. And it will be released June 13, 2014.
      Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy 13

    Today's the day -- February 13.
     My next book, Full Moon Friday, takes place on February 13. But not this February 13. A very special February 13 in 1987. A day when the cycles of the moon converged with the calendar to create the strange electricity that can only happen on a full moon Friday the 13th. Everything goes wrong. 
      A forest is on fire. A school  bus is missing. A movie star visit turns into a shootout and a body falls out of the sky. Just the typical newsday in Jordan, Ill. And the staff of the Jordan Daily News is covering the stories, solving the mysteries.
      The  characters from Great News Town and One Shoe Off return for one crazy, madcap day.
       Full Moon Friday will be released on a very special date in June, when the full moon once again converges with Friday the 13th. So mark your calendars now. June 13, 2014. It's coming!

Fini -- for now

       Finally! I sent the copy for Full Moon Friday to my editor today.
        It's a long process from concept to release party , as any writer will tell you. But Full Moon Friday has a built-in deadline.  It takes place on a full moon Friday the 13th, which doesn't happen that often. The next one is June 13, 2014. There won't be another one until 2049.
          So if I want to release the  book on the obvious best possible date I need to stay on schedule. I finished my rough draft on January 1 as planned. But the rewrite process didn't go exactly as planned. A few more plot glitches than usual. And mysterious misspellings such as using "lead" when I meant "led." Don't remember that problem before.
           This book has been fun to write. It's all about the things that go wrong when the full moon coincides with Friday the 13th. The staff of the Jordan Daily News is back with lots of fast-paced action.  Many of the strange phone calls and events are based on true tales gleaned from journalists, cops, nurses and others. Truth is stranger than fiction!