Mystery Writing-The John Keegan Mystery Series

How I Use AI to Spark Productivity, Not Just Do My Work You've likely heard that AI is about to take over. Much like every other major tech advancement, the news leads with fear. Still, there's truth to it. But the takeover can only happen if we let it. Using AI to do our work is the first part of the invasion, one we enable. So, let's not do that. Let's use AI ethically and appropriately. There’s a revolution happening in creative and professional spaces, and it’s not just about automation or efficiency. It’s about collaboration. If you’ve read my last post on writing eight novels in a year ( and why you probably shouldn’t try it), you know I owe a big part of that output to the structured, gamified system I built for myself. But what’s equally important—and less discussed—is how I used AI as a creative collaborator, not a replacement. I didn’t let ChatGPT or any other tool do the heavy lifting. I let it spot me when I faltered. Like a writing partner who doesn’t get...

  How I Wrote Eight Novels in a Year: And Why I Suggest You Shouldn't Try Writing eight novels in a year sounds like an impossible feat—and honestly, it probably should be. What started as a challenge fueled by curiosity and AI-assisted brainstorming turned into an all-consuming obsession. I found ways to optimize my writing speed, eliminate writer’s block, and make creativity feel automatic. But I also pushed myself to the edge of burnout. Here’s what I learned along the way: Find your system and optimize it. A structured routine, a reliable keyboard, and tracking word counts kept me on pace. Use AI as a tool, not a crutch. ChatGPT helped with plotting and logistics, but it couldn’t replace my voice. Turn writing into a game. Treating my novels like puzzles and tracking my progress kept me engaged. Burnout is real—pace yourself. Chasing high word counts at all costs led to months of mental exhaustion. Work on multiple projects to stay unstuck. When one book stalled, an...

 Tricks of the Trade: When to Buck Convention (And When Not To) As a reader, writer, and teacher of detective fiction, the concept of convention comes up often. Students need to learn the 'rules' as do writers. Readers come to understand them the more they read. When I'm reading during a semester, I often project what students might experience, new to the genre. Their often blissful ignorance of the conventions can make reading even more enjoyable, I think. Still, the budding writer doesn't benefit from this. They need to learn where the guardrails are and when they've crossed over them in a way that makes the novel unsalvageable.  First, let me say that sticking to rules seems ill-advised. No beginning writer wants to just follow the formula. Yet there's no other way without accounting for luck or immense genius. Both exist. Neither should be counted on. Our first novel attempts should crash into the guardrails, scraping and denting them. The result is usually ...

Writing  Ghosts of Days Gone By : When Keegan Stands Alone I am editing the next Keegan novel, and one that sets up the logical end of the series. That's tough for me, as Keegan's been around as long as I have been writing, and change can be difficult. Plus, I want to make sure the setup works here, as the next books rely on it.  While reading through it, I see the struggle Keegan has with change as well. He hasn't lost anything yet, but I know what's coming, and just his temporary separation from Pauline screams as wrong, even if it is necessary. When you're with someone that means so much to you, time away feels like the loss of a limb, a misplacing of something so important, you walk around in circles in the same room desperately trying to track it down.  Keegan faces this as tensions in the NYPD bear on him. He has a television show that's doing well and his last case brought way too much attention. There comes a time in every detective’s career when they lo...

When I started writing the Keegan series, I didn’t set out to write just another detective story. The world has plenty of those—sharp-jawed sleuths brooding over whiskey, twisted killers taunting police with cryptic riddles. What I wanted was something different. Not a story about murder, but a story about people. Sure, homicide is the catalyst. It kicks things into motion, forces my characters into late nights, bad coffee, and moral dilemmas that don’t wrap up neatly by the last chapter. But at its core, the Keegan series is about the impact of crime—on the victims, the families, and most of all, the people who investigate it. The Keegan Difference: Humor, Introspection, and Family (the Found and the Stubbornly Sticking-Around Kind) John Keegan isn’t your typical detective. He’s sharp, yes. Persistent, absolutely. But he’s also tired in a way that isn’t just about long hours and cold cases. He’s a man constantly processing the world around him, trying to make sense of both the crimes ...

 Click image to buy from Amazon   Revisiting All in a Row : Streamlining the Chaos Without Losing the Core Every writer knows the feeling of looking back at their earlier work and wondering, "What was I thinking ?" Not in the sense of regretting the story itself—no, I’m still immensely proud of All in a Row , the first sequel to Soft Case . But the more you write, the more you evolve as a storyteller. And as I’ve matured, I’ve realized that the original version of All in a Row had a bit more Keegan-esque rambling than it probably needed. I needed to also consider phrasing and terminology that speak better to the genre and a modern audience at the same time. So, when the opportunity came to revisit this book—while working on its narrative tie-in to Never Look Back and fleshing out the retro series—it felt like the right time to streamline the prose and tighten up the pacing. The result? A sharper, faster-paced novel that stays true to the heart of the story while being bette...