My first novel, Sins of Omission, is enjoying uniformly positive reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. I’ve had sales in three countries outside the US. I’m pleased with the way this is going.

Meanwhile, I finished the first draft of my “prequel” to Sins, tentatively titled Breaking News. This story picks up my reporter/protagonist, Alan Rudberg, in 2008 as he’s covering the presidential and Oregon senatorial campaigns. An anonymous source mails him photocopies of bid documents and an invoice suggesting an eastern Oregon politician is soliciting kickbacks in return for business with his county. Those who’ve read Sins know that the ensuing investigation marks a major turning point in Rudberg’s career.

Although I began plotting the book in September, the actual draft was written as part of National Novel Writing Month, a 30-day period during which established and aspiring novelists throughout the world bang out a 50,000-page draft.

As anyone who’s been through this before knows, the first draft is the easy part of the process, provided you have a working outline. The hard work lies in the editing. This involves more than just grammar- and spell-checking. Plot elements may change, scenes will shift, and entire chapters are rewritten from scratch. Parts of Sins went through five rewrites.

All this is to say that you won’t be seeing Breaking News until early spring at the earliest.

Meanwhile, enjoy reading Sins and — please — when you’ve finished it, leave a review on Amazon.

Thanks.