It’s become traditional for me to start these blogs with an apology for how long it’s been since the last, but I think I’ve let this one go the longest (a whole four months!). And it’s only going to be a short update to say, ‘I’m still here, still writing, and you’re going to hear more from me in the future.’
This year has been tough. In pretty mundane ways, fortunately – no tragic story here – but it has tested my ability to get everything done I want. You’ll be glad to hear that blogging and social media updates are the first things I let go, so just because you haven’t heard from me doesn’t mean nothing’s been happening. In fact, only yesterday, I finished the second draft of my new novel, Beach of Spies, so there’s a milestone!
I like to describe Beach of Spies as a cross between James Bond and Groundhog Day. It’s been enormous fun to write and has proven a bit of a creative lifeline these past months. It’s currently weighing in at just over 126 thousand words, making it by far the longest novel I’ve written. (Dead Letters a distant second at under 90 thousand).
I take this opportunity to make an early shout-out for beta readers – people to give it a read and let me know what worked for them and, importantly, what didn’t. If you’ve read this far into this post, you have the dedication for it, so drop me a line over social media or through the Contact Me section of my website.
I’ll write more about the next steps of the editing process in a future post, but you can read the story so far here:
Until then, here’s a picture of my feet on the beach in Saint Malo, France, which is the setting of Beach of Spies (the town, not my feet). Okay, enough! Bye!
P.J. Murphy's Writer Site 
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