My long, cruel summer is nearly at an end. I’m not going to go into all the difficulties I faced. Let’s just say that it’s good to be back, fully functional again, or at least close enough to feel good about it.

I just turned in my application for a year-long sabbatical, which will go from August 2024 to August 2025 (if granted). In it, I briefly discuss a number of mathematical research problems I plan to explore. And I will indeed explore them. But the real truth is: I’m a writer now. And I’m looking forward to spending a year mostly writing, and taking care of myself mentally, physically, and spiritually in ways I haven’t been able to for quite some time.

I find myself at an interesting nexus of writing activity. I’m making revisions to my first book, retitled “Blood Game,” based on the feedback of an agent and some acquisitions editors. I’ve just finished the first draft of the second book, “Crying Call,” and beta-readers are reviewing it. I’m doing research for the third in the series, with working title “Drawing Dead.” And Becka and I are finishing up the detailed outline of our spicy romance novel, which we will begin co-writing very soon.

The only writing I’m not looking forward to is querying. Querying! Yuck! But a necessary evil for anyone considering traditional publishing. I’m honestly not sure whether traditional publishing would be best for me, to tell the truth, but it doesn’t hurt to try. The worst case scenario is a bunch of agents all decide they lack the insight and courage to represent me. Their loss, not mine.

I’ll be querying both the first and second books, separately, as I finish them up in the next several months. And then we’ll see. It isn’t a question of whether my books will be published someday. The only question is who will be doing the marketing.

The thought of self-publishing doesn’t bother me at all. Self-published authors get a much higher percentage of their sales revenue. They don’t get the benefit of marketing and publicity from major publishers, but then — neither do many of the authors that sign with major publishers. A lot of them get mid-listed, and their books never get the marketing boost they deserve. So unless I get a sense from an agent that my book will be marketed well, why not just do it myself?

I guess what I’m saying is I’m going to be more careful and selective about accepting representation this time. Because there are agents and there are agents. And this time, it’ll be the latter, or I’d rather just do it myself.