Yesterday I sent off the nearly final manuscript of King Harald’s Snow Job to my proofreader. After her eagle-eye read, I’ll make any corrections and print proof copies of the book in paperback for one final read before I push the “Publish” button.

The cover is nearly completed and it’s a fun one. It’s a great image of Harald, from a shot that our friend Kelly took of her dog Fiver. I wanted a winter picture, and she had the perfect one—there’s even a dollop of snow on the dog’s snout. My designer, Steve Thomas, did another great job of putting all the pieces together. He came up with a fun snowflake background that catches the jolly mood of the story.

This novel—the third in the King Harald series—has been a long time coming, for some reason. It was a challenge writing 65k words that play out in about 33 hours in a very enclosed setting. It’s not quite a locked-room mystery, but along those lines. All my reviewers and editors so far are liking it. So, fingers crossed, I hope my readers will enjoy it, too.

And speaking of reviewers and editors, I am super grateful to the folks who give me their feedback on the drafts of the manuscript. It’s a case where, at some point as a writer, I can’t see the forest for the trees. My reviewers and editors point out the parts that need work. For example, in this book I wanted to make Andy, my protagonist, grow a bit—make him more confident in his sleuthing chops. However, in the process of doing that, according to a couple of reviewers, I made him less likeable. It was a good catch and I went back and softened some of those scenes. And another reviewer suggested beefing up Aunt Bev’s desire for corporate success as a way to add more humor. So she ends up deploying meaningless business jargon, which I had fun making up.

When the cover is finalized, I’ll post it here and on Facebook. And as soon as the e-book and paperback are available, I’ll send out the word.