Hi folks! 

I originally attempted to post this update from my phone, but Inkshares’ website doesn’t work too well on mobile Chrome. But I wanted to share this update with you as soon as I had a note around lunchtime that Donate4Refugees had only just found and retweeted my "125% donation" offer — a few hours after the deadline! 

So, to be fair to everyone, I’ve extended that deadline. It’s now pre-orders placed between Wednesday and midnight tonight that will be donated on (by me, not Inkshares) to Donate4Refugees at 125% their value. 

But I’ll also use this opportunity to thank everyone who’s helped with the pre-order drive so far, and/or those who’ve joined our readership since Wednesday. For in the last 36hrs alone, we’ve had 8 more pre-orders placed. That’s closer to a publishing contract for me, and £80 on its way to protect those fleeing war and persecution. 

So thank you incredibly much! Please continue to spread the word this afternoon, and I’ll let you know the final donation figure tomorrow... 

Take care, folks! Ciao for niao... 

We are just shy of 60 days into the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller Contest and as much as I was looking forward to crossing this marathon finish line this week, the Inkshares organizers have decided to let us continue to run until mid-December. I’m currently in first place and hope that continues. To be on the safe side, there is still time to encourage others to order the book. Every order gets me closer to publication. As a reminder, during November, I am donating $5 of every order to the NaNoWriMo.org non-profit and I would like nothing more than to have to write a big check for a good charity. So please continue to spread the word. 

A few backers have asked when they can read the book. I’m currently working on the third draft, so the honest answer is I have no idea, but most likely in 2019. In the meantime, I’ve posted 10 revised chapters on the Inkshares site. If you want to take a look, you can do so by clicking on the READ tab below the cover art. (Or click here to go straight to the first of these, the Prologue.)    

It seems there are still a small number of orders that have not going through. If you have not received an email confirmation from hello@inskhares.com with the subject Gumshoe Rules Confirmation, then you’ll need to place your order again.  If you have any uncertainty, you can email hello@inskhares.com directly to check if your order was received.  Please go to https://www.inkshares.com/books/gumshoe-rules  to place your order. 

As this is Thanksgiving in the US, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how grateful I am to be able to write and publish a novel. Without your support the book would not get published. I am especially grateful to those who not only ordered a copy of the book, but also badgered, spammed or otherwise encouraged other people to do so.  And even though it is sometimes uncomfortable to ask for this favor, it has been nice to be in touch with so many people and hear what so many friends and colleagues are up to.

So thank you everyone for your help! As a reminder, if you can want to reach out to one more person and encourage them to order the book, that would be fantastic!  I’m excited to have everyone along this journey!
--Z.Z. Traver
PS. Back in the spring I attended a writing workshop and met local Detroit author Stephen Mack Jones, who wrote the highly acclaimed August Snow detective novel. I am grateful for his feedback and encouragement upon reading the early chapters of this manuscript.  

Hello everyone!

I realize it’s been a long time since my last update, and I have reasons ranging from a back injury that’s been plaguing me for months (that seems to finally be resolved) and of course, just putting my head down and trying to move The Tide of Madness closer to completion.

I won’t lie, the finish line is still a way off. The first draft had more problems with it than I had hoped. But with so many different points of view, continuity issues are to be expected. The majority of the characters in The Bones of the Past were separate enough that I didn’t have to worry so much about a day here or there. But Tide will see a lot more interaction between the various characters, so I have to be a lot more careful. I’m writing shorter chapters (splitting up each point of view) and tightening up the timeline as much as possible. Still, I’ve been hard at work and I’ve finalized the order for the 57 chapters and made the tough decision to cut a side story out of the book (hopefully just moved to book three but that’s a problem for another day).

The three notebooks in the picture hold – among elements for the following book – the last sections of the Tide of Madness that I need to integrate into the version on my computer. The majority of my creative writing still happens with pen and paper and is one of the ways I make the commute for my day job part of my writing day. This guarantees that I have at least 45 minutes once or twice a day set aside to dig further into my world and fill in the insane puzzle I created for myself.

Most recently, I’ve been getting into the backstory of some of the side characters. Min’s story is about done and was rather refreshing to write – just one point of view and a nice simple story arc. I may or may not put it out there for people to read as a novella in the future, though my focus remains on The Tide of Madness and the as-yet-unnamed book 3 for now. If there are any minor characters you’re curious about, let me know! I’ll be looking for a new side project in a month or so for those days when I’m not able to spend enough time at my computer to make significant headway on the rewrite.

Thank you all yet again for your patience and support!