Last week I signed a contract with Savant Books and Publications to publish my latest novel, Chimney Bluffs. I started writing this novel on February 14, 2010 and finished a first draft on May 3, 2011. I received an excellent (and challenging!) review of the manuscript by a freelance editor that led to a significant rewrite this fall. I finally submitted the manuscript to Savant at the end of December.
I have talked about this story before, but in case you’ve forgotten (or actually have a life or have immediately deleted all my previous newsletters without reading), Chimney Bluffs is about a couple whose young son dies unexpectedly. Overwhelmed with grief, they go to Chimney Bluffs State Park with their son in one sack and his toys in another. Their plan is to leap from a cliff to their death. The father jumps, but at the last minute the mother changes her mind. The book follows her guilt and grief and the transformative friendship she develops with the two men who found her the morning after the jump. It is based on an actual incident that occurred a few years ago in England. In that circumstance, though, both parents committed suicide.
Though it is now in the hands of my publisher, it will be many months before Chimney Bluffs is ready for release. I have just started working with my editor (Katrina Robinson) and we hope to complete our work by May. Then we will start working on line editing which is very tedious and slow, though very important (you know how odd it is to find even one misspelled word in a novel). During that time I will work with a cover editor. The book will go to an outside reader before it moves on to release. I hope that Chimney Bluffs will appear by the end of this calendar year.
In the meantime, I am considering new story ideas. I started a new novel last summer and then set it aside when more work needed to be done on Chimney Bluffs. I will revisit those pages to see if I still have a feel for the story.

Dave