I have to give credit where credit is due: I wasn’t planning on doing much fiction-writing for the rest of the year (too busy, not inspired, etc., etc.), but then I listened to episode 271 of the always-excellent podcast Scriptnotes, which was entitled “Buckling Down.”

In that episode, co-host John August talked about writing his YA novel during last year’s “NaNoWriMo,” also known as the National Novel Writing Month, also known as, well… November.

During NaNo, you write a 50,000-word novel in a month. That’s 1,667 words a day (give or take).

I’ve tried NaNo and even Camp WriMo before, and while I never “won” it by finishing my book by November 30th, I always got some good writing done. And one of the books I wrote some of during a NaNo (in 2003, maybe?), Heart’s Revenge, went on to get published by Five Star Books, and reprinted by our very own UnWrecked Press!

All of this is to say… I’m doing it again!

I waffled back and forth about it, and had decided NOT to do it last week. But then I cracked open my Scrivener file with the 7,000-plus words I’d written so far on my current novel. And I liked what I was reading there!

So I’m gonna cheat a little here, and not start with a blank screen on day 1 of NaNo. I’m going to try to get to 15,000 words between now and then, and THEN I’ll blast out 50,000 words to finish the book.

Oh, and the book I’ll be writing?

It’s the sequel to my first mystery novel, Finders, Inc., and it’s titled Lost & Finders.

I got pretty psyched about the first chapter, which features one of my favorite characters I’ve ever dreamed up — Bim Mayer. So psyched that I’ve posted the entire first chapter online.

Read the first part, and then go to the second half.

I’m really excited to get back to these characters, and not just because they’re like old buddies now. And not just because the story takes place where we live right now, in the North Carolina mountains.

But this book is a kind of “linchpin” book. It connects TWO of my ongoing series together! By the end of Lost & Finders, a somewhat minor character from a different series is going to show up and bring all sorts of trouble with him. And that will lead to book 3 in the Finder Team series.

That book will also be the third book in my Family Pack series, featuring Tommy Roling and his “werewolf baby” Corinne! Tentative title for that third combo book? Finder Pack.

Things are about to get VERY interesting. Stay tuned for the ride!