The preorder for Dairyland Murders Book 6: Woman in the Wind was set up this morning. It is available on Smashwords now. It should be available on all the other distributors in the next couple of days (probably hours, but I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep).

And as an added incentive to get you to commit with a preorder, the book will be offered at a discounted price of $3.99, 1 whole dollar off until the release date of December 26th, after which the regular price of $4.99 (again for the ebook) will commence. That’s 20% off for you math oriented people.

Why do I do this? Preorders stack up and are not counted toward my sales until the release date. That means all the sales will show up on December 26th, theoretically boosting my sales ranking with distributors and moving me up in their listings.

That’s also why I’m offering Dairyland Murders Book 7: Pastor in the Pasture as a preorder on December 27 with a release date 12 months out. That means the preorders should accumulate over the course of the year and show up in my sales ranking on that release date. It also forces me to keep to a deadline, so my readers will have the security of knowing when to expect the next book.

So preorder, please. It’s good for you. It’s good for me. And in an infinitesimal way, it’s good for the economy.

Yes, you heard it here. After three LONG years, I finally finished writing my sixth book in the saga of Bernice and Evan and the mayhem that seems to follow them everywhere. And oh, what mayhem I’ve created in Woman in the Wind. There’s gunfire, explosions, corpse tampering, and so much more. And let’s not forget all the sex (and romance, there’s romance too).

I’ve dug through all the other books to reintroduce and fill out other characters from Bernice and Evan’s past. It was actually a lot of fun for me to do that. It makes for such a rich story and it sparks these great plot angles that would have never occurred to me otherwise.

I’ve gone through some pretty hefty life changes these past three years. I hope I didn’t disappoint my readers with the long wait, but to be honest, if I had been able to push out a book with my usual schedule of one a year, this book would have been a different book, and I’m not sure it would have been as good.

I’m surprised and happy with the great backstories, vignettes, and plot twists that only came into being in the last few months, weeks, even days. I believe this book accomplished the things it was supposed to in Bernice’s universe, the good, the bad, the sexy, and the murderous. And I think my readers will be delighted with the ending…of this book, anyway.

So, here’s the deal. I have my manuscript ready for my beta readers (thanks guys!). I will post my preorder on all my ebook distribution channels this week (I’m shooting for Halloween because it seems fitting, but no promises). I’m setting a release date for the finished product as December 26th (which should also give me time to get the print book up and running on Amazon). That means, you can order the ebook THIS WEEK, and it will automatically show up on your electronic device on it’s release date.

But wait, there’s more (cue the obnoxious infomercial voice)! The same week I release Dairyland Murders, Book 6: Woman in the Wind, I will post my preorder FOR THE NEXT BOOK (sorry about all the caps, I’m just really excited)! That’s right, folks, Dairyland Murders, Book 7: Pastor in the Pasture will be available for preorder at the end of this year. How’s that for making up for lost time?

Whenever a writer makes a big deal about where a story takes place, the location, in essence, becomes another character in the story. Initially, one would think this would be true for every story ever written, but that’s not the case.

There are books, especially mystery books, where a writer could plop his or her characters into any gritty noir-like city-scape, any post-apocalyptic dystopian environment, or any charming small town, and the story would still play out the same. Admittedly, my books can be like that. I feel it is an advantage. Readers from other parts of the country and world can see themselves and people they know in my books.

What I’m talking about is when the location is so unique, the story would be bereft without it. The location becomes imperative to the legitimacy of the story. If it is a real-life location, the writer has to be careful, because there are pitfalls in missing things or getting them wrong. If a reader is familiar with that place, they will become distracted with the inaccuracies and lose focus on what is going on with the plot. They will lose emotional investment, and that is bad news for the writer, especially if the reader can’t or won’t finish the book.

Getting the details right is why editing and rewrites are so very critical. I understand that a writer has deadlines and there is a sense of urgency to get the story done and out. But once the product is on the market, warts and all, there is only so much damage control a writer can install after the fact. I know of what I speak. I am the queen of impatience, and it shows in some of the earlier versions of my series. I can never take down the critical reviews about my editing. They are a sobering reminder of the need to slow down, read every sentence with objectivity, and do my best to get it right.