What Will Book Number Four Be About?

        Yep, that's me, reading a book. A friend took this photo, and I use it a bunch because I like it and it tells you a lot about me. Some people ask me why I read so much, which, I must say, astonishes me. I can't imagine not reading a lot! And it's not just because I'm a writer; it's because I love to read, I always have, because reading takes me places I'd never visit if it weren't for stories, for books, for tales, for the imagination of others. 

        Now I'll tell you something that absolutely flabbergasts me: I know a few people, nice people, who tell me that they don't read because 

A) they don't like to read or 

B) they don't have time to read or 

C) it's boring or 

D) they're not "into" reading. 

        I could go on and on with the reasons I hear from people telling me why they don't read. These same people have plenty of time to make and post videos online and play games online; in fact, they pretty much spend their whole day online, not reading, mind you, but playing mindless games. As my Mama used to say, it just floors me when I hear these excuses. Because, really, that's what they are. 

        How can someone NOT like to read? Is it because they can't read? Is that even possible in this day and age when you can read a book on a tablet, a laptop, a phone (albeit with difficulty), a magazine, a few dozen other ways?

        What about the ones who say they don't have time to read? Time is just a concept, a number. That's even more ridiculous. They have time to play six hours of video games online or watch six hours of horror or thriller or action movies on TV, but they don't have time to read a book? Ever see a photo or movie of a kid using a flashlight to read a book under his sheets and blanket when he was supposed to be asleep? Those images are real; I know because I was that kid. There was never enough time in a day to read everything, so you snuck in some added reading time when you were supposed to be sleeping. 

        Don't get me started by saying that reading is boring. What? You have to be constantly pumped up with adrenaline by watching horror and other adrenaline-pumping movies to be entertained to feel alive?

        And that last one about not being "into" books, well, I don't even know how to begin responding to that one. 

        Now that I've made my opinion about reading absolutely, indubitably crystal clear, I'll get back to the point of this post: I've begun musing on book #4 in my cozy murder mystery series, which honestly just kinda tickles me. Why, you ask? Because when I wrote the first book in the series, The Wedding Dress Quilt, it wasn't meant to be the first in a series. It wasn't meant to be part of a series at all. Oh heck, I didn't even have a murder or mystery in mind. It was just a sweet, short story about a woman who inherits a big, beautiful house in Texas, finds a lovely wedding dress in an attic, and makes it into an award-winning quilt. It was around 1200 words; that was it. Had it not been for a friend who read it and encouraged me to lengthen it into a full-length novel and submit it to a publisher, I wouldn't be sitting here with a contract to write five cozy murder mysteries. But here I am with two books on the market, a third, the Lost Lone Star Quilt, coming out in February 2027, and a fourth zooming around in my head like a ping-pong ball, making me wonder where it's going to land and what its final story is going to look like. 

        This brings up another question I am often asked. Where do I come up with the ideas for my books, and so quickly? Well, isn't that the million dollar question! If I knew the answer, I surely would make a million dollars answering it. I wish I knew. The ideas just pop into my head. Often they pop into my head when I'm still writing the previous book. Then as I'm writing said book I change my mind and have to hit the delete button, erase everything I've typed and start all over. Have you any idea how frustrating that is? All I can say is that it is incredibly frustrating and annoying. You'd think I could get my act together by now but ya know, sometimes a story idea seems really great and I start typing it up, and I get part way through and then I begin to read what I've written and I wonder what in the heck was I thinking? Then back button here I come! That back button as well as the delete button have become close personal friends. We're tight!

        Okay, enough rambling. It's the first of September, the start of the new school year. Stop into a library and borrow a book, or buy a new one at a book store. Either way, expand your mind -- read a book!

Till next time,

Jeffree Wyn