We are 48 hours post-release for Shadow of the Swan and sales are already slacking off, boo, so I decided to post a challenge yesterday on Twitter and Facebook. I said that if I got three reviews on Amazon, I would start work on the sequel (which I already have a half-completed outline for — working title is The Crimson and the Black).

By 11:30 PM I had two reviews. Nice, but not what I asked for. I thought with an admitted sense of relief, “Okay, looks like I’m gonna work on King of Blades and Uncertainty Principle.”

Then, for reasons I don’t understand myself, I checked again at 11:45 PM. There was the third review, calling Henry a cinnamon roll lawful good vampire hero. Talk about torn.

But I am a woman of my word. So The Crimson and the Black now has a Scrivener file and I’m working on Chapter One in conjunction with King of Blades. I’m also trying a new system whereby I dictate books while I walk on a treadmill. Apparently it’s a hell of a lot faster than typing, which is good because I’m gonna need it if I want to get four more full-length novels and two novellas out by the end of the year.

And get the re-release of Deep Water out as well. Oh, well. Sleep is for the weak.