It’s been an exciting week.

Regulation 19 was free on Amazon last weekend, and some book deal sites posted about the promotion. The number of downloads exceeded my expectations, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

So, if you are one of those people who picked up the book during the free period or the subsequent 99 cent sale, welcome! Hope you like the book!

Today, I sent A Place Without Shadows, the Regulation 19 sequel, to some early readers for feedback. This trusted group consists of friends, writer colleagues, readers who enjoyed Reg 19, and (most importantly) my wife. It’s an exciting time. I feel like the weird little monster I’ve been secretly raising in my basement has finally been unleashed on my nearest and dearest. (Or insert your own less creepy analogy.)

So, what’s next? Will I rest on my laurels? YES! Laurels are super comfortable! But, while I’m laurel-resting, I will also be working.  I’m giving my early readers a nice leisurely month to read the book. And I’m going to try my best not to obsess about it during that time. I want to put my mind on other things so that I can come back to the book with a fresh perspective in August.

Here are some of the things I look forward to doing now that A Place Without Shadows is temporarily off my mind:

• Holding conversations during which my mind doesn’t wander into the story world of Frank, Jake, Zed, and [name redacted].
• Posting my June book reviews.
• Posting the original first chapter of Regulation 19 here on the blog. It’ll be fun to show you the direction the story could have gone (and almost did).
• Starting a super-secret new book-talk podcast with my buddy Pipes (really excited about this one).
• And starting my next book, The Short Timer. This one is unrelated to the Deadlock series. It’s a book I’ve wanted to write for a long time, and I’m stoked to get going on it. I start outlining tomorrow.

And then, when I get the feedback from my early readers, I’ll get back to work on A Place Without Shadows so I can get it out into the world in September.