New Book or Keep Revising?

Since I'm a teacher, I have the summer vacation every year which is a great time to begin a new book. This will be my fifth summer vacation since I started doing that. So I should be starting my fifth book.

But I expect the edits for KILLER OF KILLERS to arrive any day. Of course that will get my priority. And then there are the further revisions which are in order for my third and fourth books, KILLER EYES and JOHN DUNN.

I expect to sell my second book, THE VASE any day now. And when I do, I will certainly give that one priority, too, when it gets edited. (Although it's already been edited twice, but that's another story.)

So I have blogged before that I was of the mind to just concentrate on revisions and editing of the books I've already written, and I may well do that.

But time flies. And boy does it ever. My family and I watched some home videos of my sons when they were babies. And wow it reminded us how fast the last ten and fifteen years have passed. My oldest son will be sixteen this Sunday. He's as big as I am now. A far cry from the little baby I was holding in those videos.

And that's why I'm thinking I should stick to my plan of writing a new book every summer. Because as those videos pointed out, those months will not be able to be called back. Once they're gone, they're gone, and over the last four summers, at least, I have four books to show for them.

Maybe it's time to get started on that fifth one. But I haven't decided on just what book to write. I think it should be the third installment of Trent Smith's story. After all, I started with his debut. Then I strayed from the Trent Smith story and wrote THE VASE. Then I went back to it and wrote KILLER EYES. Then I strayed again and wrote JOHN DUNN.

So if I keep that pattern, it's time for Trent Smith again. Yes. It is. OK.