When the Legends Die

FIRST! Congratulations to Laurie, the winner of my newsletter contest. Look for an email in your inbox.

When I was in high school, we had a required reading list, which we were allowed to select from. One of the books I chose was "When the Legends Die" because I've always been captivated by legends. If you've never read it, it's about a Native American boy who is taken from his tribal land and taught to be a vicious rodeo rider. In the end, he goes back to the peace of the land where he was born. I only read it once, and yet it has stayed with me all these years.

I've been doing research into a legend for inclusion in Epitaph 5. Always a fun task, I read a novel, but it did throw me into a panic. My remaining Epitaph books are about the remaining brothers, and the legend I'm reading up on focuses more on women. EEK! So I had to look a little deeper than one author's interpretation (and knowing I could develop my own interpretation, but with a known legend, you don't want to stray TOO far from the original). It does apply to men, as well. Phew!

Developing the ghosts to provide background for each of the Epitaph novels has been an interesting experience. They are their own characters, complete with backstory, with goals, motivation and conflict. Through this process, I always knew Liam's story was going to be just a little bit different than the others, so I'm excited to bring him to the forefront in Epitaph 5. I still need a ghost for Epitaph 6, and while I have ideas, I'm not going to worry about that too much until I 1) finish Epitaph 4, and then 2) write Epitaph 5.

How long does it take to write each book? When can you expect the next installments? I can tell you Epitaph 4 is on target for a January release. I have a date with the editor and the cover artist is working on a composite. As for timing on the other two....

Tune in next week for "how long does it take to write a novel?"