I figured it out.

I figured it out. I know how my new novel is going to start.

Today around 4 PM I find out if I am a USA today best selling author or not.

That might be posing a distraction for me, I don’t know.

Also, my brother‘s funeral was last week. So that could be posing a distraction, too.

My good friend is in a funk, so that’s troublesome…

But mostly what has been a distraction for me is what’s a distraction for all of you – work, kids, the looming holidays, everything. Life.

And it’s a distraction from what exactly?

From writing, of course.

I’m not blocked for words. I never am. I’ve been chomping at the bit to start this novel for weeks. But I knew that as soon as I started, I would make it a priority and everything else would fall by the wayside. Instead, I tried to do the right thing and jot down notes whenever I got that writerly urge (which is all the time, especially when I have to get on the treadmill – got writers block? Get a treadmill. Instant cure the moment you step on it to run.) So I still try to maintain my focus on the other things so that they could get taken care of in the timeline they need to be taken care of.

But you say, wait. Your job is writing.

Yes. I am aware.

I also have to do things like go to my kid’s biome day at school, and I have a few young author clubs that are coming up on their Christmas parties. they need stories typed and gifts bought. Presents for teachers and administrators. (Oh, and a gift for my wife. Better write that down, too.) Christmas declarations to hang. Just… the normal stuff we all deal with this time of year. (And I need to mow the lawn because I live in Florida.)

But

As often happens when I go to step on the treadmill to commence my work out, I’ve been getting amazing ideas for my story. My sequel, that is, to my smash hit Double Blind which is the one that might be making me a USA today best selling author at 4 PM today. Not like I’m counting it down or anything.

The fact is, we did a lot of hard work marketing and we might not make the USA today bestseller list. That would suck, but that’s a possibility.

Also, we might make it. I don’t expect my life to change as a result. Nobody’s going to show up with a check for $2 million and the keys to a yacht that awaits me in the Caribbean. There’s probably not even going to be a bottle of champagne opened.

Well, maybe.

So as I have been holding back on starting the next story and trying to finish the various books I’ve promised people I will edit, I keep getting ideas for my next book.

And a fair portion of why I had not started is because I wasn’t quite sure where do mystery element was. I knew there would be a killer and I knew there would be a cop trying to catch the killer, but I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to create the mystery element of the murder mystery.

That’s kind of important.

That might seem a little odd to most of you, but I like to have things outlined a little before I begin.

Anyway, I got on the treadmill yesterday and it came to me.

I knew the mystery element.

I had probably written down some notes a month ago that took care of the mystery aspect, but it seemed a little thin, and if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a sequel that doesn’t live up to the original. I wasn’t going to do that. If this ends up being a series, each book has to be better than previous one. I’m kind of anti-repeating myself, so if I’m going to do a series it’s going to be amazing and better with each passing book. That’s the goal. Not just to have a series but to blow your mind in different ways with each book.

And yesterday I figured out how I’m going to do it.

So today while I avoid writing in make an attempt to finish the projects that are sitting on my desk including mowing the lawn (which I can see out my window from my desk and let me tell you that’s normally a great view, but when it needs to be mowed it’s kind of antagonizing me all day) I will do so secure in the knowledge that I will be creating a mystery that will be filled with twists, turns, action, a fast pace, and brilliant characters once again.

Oh, and I just might become a USA today best selling author at 4pm.

Not that I’m thinking about it.