Writing True Crime: A Summer Update!!

This post is a little different, more of a quick update, but one I’m genuinely excited about. Some of you may remember from earlier posts that I’ve been working on a project that’s slowly but surely turning into a book about true crime. Part of the reason I started writing about it here was to keep myself accountable. If I put updates out into the world, I can’t quietly procrastinate in the background.

First, the core research project has now been completed and has been submitted to an international journal focusing on crime and media. I am excited and hopeful for this, especially knowing how much work me and my colleagues put into the study. That can be a long process, possibly months of peer-review, but I’m excited and will keep folks posted!

Second, here’s the good news: this summer I hit my goal! I wanted to finish drafts of the first three chapters and a book proposal to send out to publishers, and I did it. To be clear, these are rough drafts. Very rough. But they’re solid enough that I feel confident calling them a foundation. The proposal is also in draft form, and I’ll have to adapt it depending on which publishers I approach, which is both exciting and a little terrifying.

Something interesting happened along the way. I was writing Chapter 2 and realized I had way too much material. Instead of cramming it all in, I split it into two separate chapters. So now what began as Chapter 2 is Chapters 2 and 3. And honestly, I think they’re stronger this way, it’s leaner, more focused, and better paced. Sometimes writing has a mind of its own, and in this case it worked out for the best.

By mid-August, I wrapped up Chapter 3 and turned to the proposal. A few early readers have looked it over, and their feedback has been both helpful and humbling. One suggestion in particular pushed me to jump ahead in the book’s timeline and draft another chapter to include with the proposal. This chapter tells a story that threads through the entire book and gives it shape. Including it now makes sense, even if it’s a little out of order.

Of course, life complicates things. The semester has started, and suddenly my writing schedule is collapsing under teaching, grading, and meetings. Over the summer I was writing nearly every day. Now I’m lucky if I manage Wednesday and Friday mornings, maybe a weekend afternoon if I protect the time. The motivation is there; the time is not. That’s frustrating, but it’s also real life in academia.

So I’m asking for your continued support as I move forward. Keep following along here, encourage others to follow me, send me your thoughts, nudge me when I disappear for too long. This project is important to me, and your encouragement genuinely helps keep it alive.

Thanks for being part of this process. More updates soon—ideally with fewer coffee-fueled all-nighters behind them.