​Monday, August 5 --- 4,933 words

Tuesday, August 6 --- 5,924 words

Wednesday, August 7 --- 7,704 words

Thursday, August 8 ---  6,117 words

Friday, August 9 --- 5,554 words

Saturday, August 10 --- 6,033 words

Sunday, August 11 --- 6,126 words

TOTAL words for Week 16 --- 42,391 words

I'm about to tackle something new. COMPLETELY new. It's a genre I don't think I've ever written before, at least not in long form - cozy mystery.

​I enjoy reading cozies, so it's a wonder that I've never written one before. But I'm happy to tackle this one, but with a twist. Here's what my new book, Death & Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, is all about:

Emaline is on top of the world. She’s a college student doing a summer internship with one of the top-ranked cartoonists in Seattle, having beat out a hundred other candidates to get the position.

Although set up through the cartoonist’s publisher, the internship takes place at Jack Wilson’s home office. The first week is especially tough, as the old guy is definitely from a different generation and not really respectful of a young and up-and-coming female artist. After a weekend complaining to her friends and family, Monday rolls around and Emaline walks into the studio to find Jack dead.

He made quite a point that she’s the only one with the key to his office, and there’s no evidence of a break-in… When she tells the police, they make no bones about her being their main person of interest. Now, she has to uncover who, what, and why before she ends up the target too. As she continues in her hunt, she eventually realizes the clues to solving the mystery are in the comics themselves.

I mentioned this will be a multimedia project before it's done - I'm hoping to hire a graphic artist to create some comics to add to the book. Know of any good artists who'd love to be a part of this project? Leave a note in the comments. Thanks!

Have a great week, and see you on Sunday when I read an excerpt. This should be a lot of fun!

Week 15 has come to a resounding close, and a bit earlier in the evening too (usually, I'm writing right up until the deadline). However, I'm glad to have given Malik a fighting chance in my new novel Graphic. But I must say that psychological horror is quite exhausting to write. Hopefully, not as tiring to read!

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter:

I enjoy writing horror, but I must say that I find it hard to maintain that momentum for a long period of time over the course of a book. I think I only have one more horror-based book in my genre list, and that's a comedic horror, which will be fun to write. But I might be wrong about what I have left to do - there are a lot of subgenres that I'm writing, so I might revisit horror again... but only after a break.

Next week, I'm going to tackle something COMPLETELY new for me. It's a genre that I don't know if I've ever written, actually. So, stay tuned... it'll be a fun challenge!