Family portrait

What I’m reading

Last week I finished For the Best, Vanessa Lillie’s follow-up to her fantastic 2019 debut Little Voices. For the Best is full of suspense and thrilling drama plus top-notch writing, all the ingredients I love in a book.

I also finished Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991), David Simon’s fascinating look inside the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide unit.

Next up: A reread of Michael Connelly’s The Last Coyote. I’m also eagerly awaiting my preordered copy of Rachel Howzell Hall’s And Now She’s Gone, out Tuesday.

What I’m writing

I’m nearing the end of the first draft of my current project, and I’m slowing down. In the early days of the draft, I whipped out 1,000 words or more a day. This week I’ve been writing less while my brain catches up. I’ve been thinking more deeply about character motivation and plot logic and how to wrap up all the loose ends.