NUMBER FOUR
This is sort of old news, but I know you will be thrilled to learn that the contract finally arrived from Kensington (via my agent) for my fourth book, so it will really be happening.

In all honesty, I was starting to wonder about that. I know that factors beyond the control of any single individual impacted on the timeline, but my initial proposal went out more than five months ago. For a writer with a track record -- okay, not exactly a Times best-seller, but still -- that's a long time.

In fairness to everyone involved, my fourth novel will be a bit of a break from the comic gay romances I've been writing for most of the past decade. Oh, the new book will still be 'comic' and 'gay,' but I want to shake it up a bit. "Untitled Novel #4" (as it is known contractually; "The Big One" as it is known to me) will be about a low-level and luckless criminal gang that happens to be made up of gay men and lesbians (we're just like everyone else!!) who stumble upon an opportunity to signicantly change their fortunes through blackmail. Needless to say, things don't go as planned.

The delivery date for the manuscript is next April 15, and -- although there isn't a publication date yet -- I would assume that it will be released in 2009. So be patient.

In the meantime, I type away. I also made some headway this past week on my Big Project -- a novel set in the 1920s -- which is good, because I've had a hard time wrapping my head around it for most of the past 15 months I've been talking about it. The '20s book isn't the priority right now, of course, but if I can move that forward while I work on Unpublished Novel #4, I should be able to avoid another long gap between books.

And while I'm on the subject of books... remember that the trade paperback edition of When the Stars Come Out will be released in just a few short weeks. I would strongly recommend pre-ordering, so that you don't get shut out. Actually, I would strongly recommend pre-ordering 10 copies, so that you finish your shopping for the holidays well in advance of the rush.

But that's just me. You know how organized I am.