As of this moment, I am 29,711 words into Off the Hook, book 8 in the Milligan Creek Series. This story revolves around a fishing tournament, with a quest for fame, fortune, fish, and revenge driving the action. I'm having a blast writing it, and I can often be found laughing to myself in my office in response to my characters' crazy antics. The way things are going, I should have a solid first draft by the end of next week, and with any luck, the book will be available in the first a quarter of 2024.

In the meantime, I'm also very close to finishing the backstory for Teeth, book 3 in the Uncanny Icons Series, which is about some glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth that are far more than a mere novelty item.

Last month, I also completed The Stream Team, which is book 1 in a new six-book series called Game On that I'm writing for Bakken Books. It's about a group of unlikely gamers who are trying to become a championship Fortnite squad. The book will come out in the first quarter of next year. 

And don't forget Danica Panica! The first six books in that series are now available from Bakken as well, and if you order before Dec. 15, you can still get them in time for Christmas!

The first 6 books in my new series, Danica Panica, will be released on Oct. 11, 2023, by Bakken Books, with a presale to take place two weeks earlier. Here's a quick overview of the series, which is aimed at girls ages 6-9:

And here are the titles of the first 6 books:

• Danica Panica and the First Day of School
• Danica Panica and the Thing Under the Bed
• Danica Panica and the Thunderstorm of Doom
• Danica Panica and the Snapping, Snarling Dog
• Danica Panica and the Sharp, Scary Needle
• Danica Panica and the Big Fat Hen
  

​And finally, here's a piece of interior art from book 2:

Below is a rough sketch of the cover for "Danica Panica and the First Day of School," book 1 in a new series I wrote that's coming out this fall from Bakken Books. It's a humorous series in the style of Junie B. Jones written for girls 6-8 who struggle with anxiety issues. In each book, Danica strives to overcome a new fear as only she can. Books 1-6 will be released simultaneously, so you can binge them just like a Netflix show. Stay tuned!

It's based on a character named Danica Panica, and it's directed at girls ages 6-8, particularly those who, like Danica, struggle with anxiety. Each book contains a humorous story about Danica confronts and overcomes one of her many fears. The first six books in the series will be coming out this September from Bakken Books, the new publisher of the Milligan Creek Series. 

The Danica Panica series will be illustrated by Hannah Doerksen, who has also done covers for Milligan Creek and my Uncanny Icons series as well as my children's picture book, Randolph the Yellow Snowman. To give you a sneak peek, here's one of the interior images from Danica Panica and the Big Fat Hen. 

It's interesting how serendipity plays into the writing process at times. For example, my wife was recently doing some spring cleaning, and something she was going to get rid of were some pads of lined paper. I snagged one of them to use as scrap paper, so I could scribble down ideas as they came to me. It's worked for that, but it's also turned out to be an invaluable outlining tool for a new book series I'm working on.

This series is built around a character named Danica Panica, and it's aimed at girls ages 6-8 who struggle with anxiety and related issues. I'm having loads of fun writing it. Turns out she's quite the character, with a high level of self-awareness and a cutting sense of humor. Each book is 5,000-9,000 words long, so they're pretty short compared to any of the other books I've written. I've completed the first four books so far, and I plan to have two more completed by the first week of June. My new publisher (to be disclosed soon) will release all six of them in Q4 2023. If things go well with this first batch, I have plans for 18-20 more.

Normally when I write a book, I spend a fair amount of time outlining my story beforehand. With these books, however, I begin with a title, a fear that Danica has to tackle, and then essentially wing it from there. In this case, "winging it" involves sketching a few ideas on that notepad before I begin writing and then diving into the story. Here's a picture of what that looked like for book 3 in the series, Danica Panica and the Thunderstorm of Doom.

I realize this probably makes zero sense to anyone but me. To help decode it, most of the numbers related to the speed of light vs. the speed of sound when calculating how far away a thunderstorm is. Others relate to how many people are killed each year by lightning strikes. Apart from that I merely tried to capture some initial ideas related to the plot itself.  For instance, that I wanted the plot to involve Danica trying to get from A to B during a storm while out camping. As bare bones as this appears, it gave me enough signposts to cobble together a fun little story in an amazingly short period of time.  I'm not sure what your brainstorming process looks like, but I encourage you to experiment with new tools. You never know what you might discover. 

Speaking of bare bones, here are some initial character sketches from Hannah Doerksen, who is going to be illustrating the series. She has also illustrated my last few Milligan Creek and Uncanny Icons covers as well as Randolph the Yellow Snowman.