Fall is in the air, and it’s been a glorious week for getting my steps. Not too cold; not too hot—as it actually was one day last week. Overcast, yes, some of the time, but not actually raining.

After what one blog reader called my “slugfest,” the slugs vanished—the very next day after the blog went live! Since then, I’ve seen only one of those and a single earth worm, but the slugs all have gone to wherever slugs go.

The petunia baskets are about to give up the ghost. The fuchsia baskets I received on Mother’s Day are still hanging in. They’ve been glorious all summer long, but I can tell they won’t be around much longer. And once the temps get too low, it’ll be time to stop feeding the fish. I’m pretty sure they’ll miss my visits for a while, but eventually they’ll hibernate.

The last time I wrote about juggling three balls was while I was finishing writing a Joanna book, waiting for the copy-editing on an Ali book, and getting ready to go on tour with a Beaumont—a book written two years and two whole books ago.

Remembering the details of Den of Iniquity was problematic to begin with, but eventually I got back into the swing of things. Talking about JP and his issues and exploits was fun. These days, he’s more like an old friend than he is a fictional character.

Fortunately, the editorial letter on the Joanna book didn’t show up until most of the Beaumont events and interviews were over. Longtime readers of this blog have become familiar with the three stages of editing. I write a book and send the manuscript to New York. The editorial letter is the first stage in the publisher’s part of the editing process. My editor reads the manuscripts and sends back her suggestions. Once I make those and return them to her, I receive what’s known as the D&A payment—aka Delivery and Acceptance.

Longtime readers of this blog are probably also aware that I’m not a fan of outlining. I encountered outlining for the first time in Mrs. Watkins’s sixth grade Geography class. I hated outlining on sight, and nothing that has happened to me in the intervening decades has changed my mind about outlining.

In other words, when I start writing a book. I may name the baby, but I don’t necessarily know how the story is going to end. That was the situation with By Reason of Insanity, Joanna Brady #20, a book that was named shortly after I wrote the first few pages. The problem is, the name was related to what I thought would be the ending—which, as it turned out, wasn’t exactly what I expected.

So when the editorial letter came, that was the editor’s first request—that I consider a title change. Since I had finished the book and already noticed that discrepancy, renaming it wasn’t a big issue. Joanna Brady # 20 is now called The Girl from Devil’s Lake.

My work on that ended last week, and I’m waiting for the D&A check to land in my checking account any minute. The next time I encounter Brady #20 it’ll be at Editing, Stage 3, and I’ll be looking at the type-set galley.

Which brings me to the last of those three juggling balls, the copy-editing for the Ali book, Overkill, which arrived in my mailbox on Tuesday. That’s NY editing, Stage 2. I’m working my way through the manuscript right now. It’s going fairly smoothly, and I’m more than halfway done.

I’m hoping to have the copy editing completed by Friday. If that’s the case, I’ve already got a book lined up to read over the weekend, and I’m looking forward to it.

It’s about time I got back to reading someone else’s books.

I’ve missed that.