A Quick Writing Update: 24,000 words!
I wanted to share a short writing update, mostly because after several weeks of crawling toward the finish line, I finally completed my next chapter! This one took longer than I wanted. The semester was especially stressful this fall, which it usually is, but this time it felt like there were fewer pockets of calm. Thankfully, enough of them appeared here and there for me to get the chapter done.
In an ideal world, I would have wrapped this up in mid-October. That was the plan anyway. But mid-November is still progress, and I’ll take it. I am genuinely happy with how this chapter turned out because it is one of the sections that will run as a thread through the book. It focuses on a specific unsolved case, one that has drawn a great deal of attention and conflict within true crime media. I wanted to approach this as two distinct parts. The first part lays out the case itself: the details, the timeline, the unanswered questions. The second part shifts to the family and examines the emotional and psychological effects that ripple outward when someone disappears. I think the plan is each part is its own chapter and they tie directly into the larger themes of the project.
This chapter feels different from the others, at least the way I imagine the rest of the book unfolding. Most of the upcoming chapters will be more historical, academic, or scientific. They will cover the early foundations of criminal investigation, forensic psychology, and the development of true crime as a genre. Eventually I move into specific cases and investigative analysis, but those chapters will lean more heavily on research and history.
This one is more narrative. It feels like a contrast to the others. It is a slower, more personal exploration of one case and the family affected by it. I also have a small but real connection to the case, which shaped how I approached the writing. Because of that tone and structure, this chapter will not appear as one single block in the finished book. I plan to cut it into shorter sections and weave those pieces between the larger, more academic chapters. I like the rhythm that creates, almost like giving readers a narrative breath between the heavier material.
The next steps are clear. I need to move into editing this chapter and then send it off to my early readers for feedback. After that, I want to turn my attention to strengthening the book proposal. Ideally, I would like to have revised chapter edits and an updated proposal, possibly even two versions of the proposal tailored to different types of publishers, finished by Christmas. If I can actually make that happen, I will be thrilled.
Once those pieces are in place, I plan to return to the historical chapters (excited to write about the Wild West, maybe even Wild Wild West 😉 ) and keep pushing them forward. The second narrative-style chapter will probably come later once I have more of the structural foundation written.
On a numerical note, I am now sitting at roughly twenty-four thousand words, which I think puts me at somewhere between a quarter and a third of the total manuscript I am aiming for. Not too shabby for a project that has been fighting for time and attention all semester.
So that’s the update. Progress is happening, slowly but steadily, and I am hopeful that the next stretch of writing will unfold the way I want it to. Thanks to everyone who keeps checking in on this process. It genuinely helps!
-Dr. G
