The irony of this cover, this book and… Well, it’s ironic. Amy’s back…and mine. That comparison is unintended, even as I see it and marvel. Yeah, that’s what I do. Marvel.
I write, “I didn’t intend to write this book” more often than I’d have guessed. Writing isn’t a hobby. It isn’t exactly an obsession, either. I write these stories now not just for career reasons (such as it is) but because the act is pleasing. I love to write.
I ended “Amy2” (A Guardian’s Promise) in uncertainty. She was alive. She was on the mend. Beyond that, nothing in her future confidently signaled anything, even good health. I liked the ending. I wanted readers to see that real life law enforcement (as displayed in a novel - true enough) isn’t a TV episode. Injured officers take months, sometimes years to recover, if they do at all. That’s where I left her.
And then, I got up in the middle of the night and started the next Amy novel. I needed to know she was okay.
That’s crazy, right?
Reality soon gave me more than enough material to get a decent start. Decent… I rage wrote thirty thousand words. It all just poured out. My wife…
Here is where the narrative gets tricky. Much of what happened out in the “real world” is still covered by a non-disclosure agreement. So, the used-to-be lawyer side of me counsels caution. The angry spouse, on the other hand, wrote a WORK OF FICTION that, if it happens to intersect with past events, does so COINCIDENTALLY and FICTITIOUSLY.
Amy gets to be Amy, I got to write something I enjoyed, and if you find pleasure in reading this, I’ve done my job.
Amy Painter, doing Amy things. Won’t be long…