Two Days Away

Borderline Insanity comes out in two days.  It’s been in the works for a long time.  Here’s how long:

On June 23, 2010, I presented the general notion of the book to my writers’ group, and solicited ideas about the nature of the villain.  
O­n October 11, 2011, I submitted a draft of the prologue to the group for critique.  
I spent most of 2012 working on edits for The Bubble Gum Thief, which came out on December 4, 2012.  
As of June 21, 2013, I had written 80,000 words of the first draft of Borderline Insanity.
By April 2014, I had written 108,000 words of Borderline Insanity, and was nearly done with the story.
I spent the rest of 2014 finishing the first draft, and then rewriting it several times.
On December 16, 2014, I asked friends and fans of The Bubble Gum Thief to serve as beta readers to give me feedback on Borderline Insanity.
I spent most of 2015 revising the book with the benefit of feedback from my beta readers and my agent.
We sold the book in the Fall of 2015.  I worked with a developmental editor in November 2015 through early January 2016 to tighten the story.
Early this year I worked with copy editors and proofreaders to prepare the manuscript for print.  A graphic designer worked on the cover.  The talented Angela Dawe recorded the audiobook.  I collaborated with my editor on marketing copy for the book.
And now, on July 5th, 2016, it’s out.  Just a little more than 6 years after I had the general notion of what the book should be.

When I came up with the idea for Borderline Insanity, our first son was a year old.  Now he’s seven and he has a brother who is four.  I wish I could write faster, but it’s hard with two small kids, a full time job, a house to fix, soccer to coach.  

I’ve outlined two-thirds of the next Dagny Gray book.   I have no idea when it will be done.