(NOTE: I will be updating the progress on Death is Sleeping with My Wife, the 4th Joe Davis book, as I race against time to complete it by the summer. Here’s an update on where I’m at.)

BACKGROUND: In our last thrilling (?) episode, Randy had finished going through and straightening out the main plotlines in the book (i.e. those related to the murder investigation). His next step was to go through the “subplots” (i.e. stories involving Joe’s friends that parallel, and eventually converge with, the main story.) That done, he hoped to then work on the climax and stop referring to himself in the third person.

WHERE I’M AT: Right now, the plot is nearly untangled. I’ve dealt with both the main plotlines and the “subplots”. With all of this completed, I’ve given myself a week to write the climax of the book and have a workable draft.

The climax will consist of two chapters: a “set up” chapter and the climax itself. I originally planned to outline the entire thing, but decided it should have a little more “flow”. So I scribbled down the information I’ll need to impart and I’ll just wing it from there. Even in figuring out the information I need to include, I’ve spotted a few more wrinkles in the plot. Nothing huge, but issues that will need to be addressed. At least I feel like I’ve got my arms around the story.

The climax is tricky. I’ve written myself into a corner that I can’t, unfortunately, share with you at the moment. But it precludes the possibility of the kind of chase/fight scene that usually ends one of my books. Fortunately, I’ve got the subplots to provide a little bit of ridiculous action. I’ve also had to do the reveal of the murderer in a way that makes sense and only stretches credibility a little bit. It’s a bit of a high-wire act. I’ll leave it up to the readers to determine how successful I am. But I still feel like I’m on pace with this thing.

WHAT’S NEXT: Finish writing the climax and bring this sucker in for a landing!

Meantime, here’s another entry from the Death is Sleeping with My Wife playlist on Spotify. (To be made public soon!