Ok, so for those of you who are regular visitors to my pages, you’ll know that I never sit still for more than five minutes. (Ok, I’ll rephrase that obviously incorrect statement ~ I never ‘do nothing’ for more than five minutes!)

I spent three days working flat out to get the first draft of Retribution as clean and error free as possible, before sending it out to my wonderful proof-readers, and then sat back and wondered, “What the heck am I going to do now?”

So, I put a load of washing in the machine, rinsed a few dishes, and sat down with a cup of tea. Hubby was in work, the kids were off doing those things that kids do, and I twiddled my thumbs. A lot!

Thirty minutes later I grabbed my laptop, and started writing out the synopsis for book 10, which I’ve been dying to start on for the last seven months, ever since I finished writing Impossible.

“Why, Beth?” I hear you cry out…

Thank goodness you asked!

Because book 10 is going to be about Brandon Campbell, the former US Ranger we met in Impossible, along with his young daughter, Hayley, and who I’ve been dying to write about ever since.

Without giving too much of the story away (of Impossible), when we met him, Brandon Campbell had been recently widowed, and so I felt it was only appropriate for him to have a suitable period to grieve. Well, as the stories have moved on nearly three years, I thought that now would be a good time for him to get his own story, and so this is another one that I’m writing with much love, as they’re two characters that are very dear to my heart.

Of course, that also means we get to see more of the other ‘Impossible’ characters, as well as some newer faces (from Retribution) so it’s a varied cast that are taking centre stage on this one, which will be set entirely in the US.

(Sorry if this is sounding a little cryptic. It’s getting so difficult trying to write these blogs without having to write SPOILER ALERT on every other line!)

In addition to Baxter, I also ended up with two more namesakes in Retribution.

The first one is in response to a lovely reader who contacted me, to let me know that she loved that I named a character Jordan, as that’s the name of one of her daughters. Well, I couldn’t just leave it at one daughter, could I? That’s how we now have a Nina in the book!

The second was bizarre, but entirely coincidentally, as the character had already been created before this lady got in touch with me, several months ago. I won’t give out her real name, as it would be too easily identified, but she’s been another gem, in my growing jewellery box of friends and helpers. But, just so she can point out to her friends that she truly has been a blessing to me, can I just say that Debenhams’ in London should thank their lucky stars they have great staff! ‘Nuff said!

I have another character named after a very kind helper in the new book (10) ~ so look out for little Catharina! The real one has been such a source of friendship to me over the last few months, constantly encouraging, and a valuable source of perspective when I struggle to see the many positives for the one or two negatives, that I was delighted to be able to have her namesake in the book. I really hope she knows how much I appreciate her.

So, back to where I am with the books. Retribution is almost ready to go. It means that I have to stop writing book 10 this weekend, to give it another read through, once I’ve had all the last bits of feedback from my helpers. Early reports are that people have really enjoyed it (including my mum, who is one of my toughest critics!), so I’m hoping it’s received as positively when it’s released in a few weeks.

The new book is coming along quite nicely too ~ up to about 30,000 words/14 chapters/100 pages already ~ so probably a quarter of the way through. I’m not going to tell you anything about the plot yet, as I’ll give you a bit more on that in a few weeks. But it’ll be a little different to what you’ve had before. That should get you wondering… hmm?

I’m taking some time off to enjoy a family vacation soon, so if last year is anything to go by, I’ll have finished the new book by the time I get back! ;0) Well, who needs sleep when you’re on vacation, right?

In the meantime, I’m working on another little project, which I hope to tell you more about in the next few weeks. It involves fundraising for some of my favourite charities, and I’m really hoping it comes off, so watch this space for more news.

Until the next time, have a great week.

Lots of love,

Beth
xx