We’re in the midst of a heat wave in the Adirondacks. It’s reached 90 degrees the last three days and we’re supposed to reached them again for the next three. Even worse, the humidity is horrid. Other than a quick run outside to water the flowers, I seldom leave the house. Not that that’s unusual, but I prefer to make the choice rather than being forced into it by the weather.

After finishing the last season of Shetland, I’ve gone back for season 4 of MI-5. The first two episodes were about a bombing in London. It’s interesting because they almost didn’t air them. Turns out the two shows were filmed about five months before an actual bomb went off in London, I think in 2005, but don’t quote me. The producers thought it might be too traumatic. In the end they decided to go through with airing them. In my opinion that was a good decision. People in general are, I think, tougher than you might imagine.

Trying to coddle people and protect them from anything that might offend only makes them weaker. Watching something that covers a difficult subject isn’t gong to break someone and if they’re struggling, they can turn it off. Hell, I’ve turned off horror movies that were too graphic for my taste. No big deal.

Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to talk about why good reviews can be even more dangerous than bad ones. See, when someone tells you how great your work is, it can bind you up. You can fear the next book won’t live up to the one everyone loved. That happened to me after the Aegis of Merlin series did really well. I figured the next books couldn’t possibly live up to it. In the end, the only way past the fear is to push through. Do your best and love the story yourself. I promise that if you love the story you wrote, someone else will too. That’s why writing what you’re excited about is so important. Your excitement can carry you through a rough patch and readers will feel it in the work.

I wrote The Hidden Tower after dreaming about Otto’s adventures. Not just once. I had maybe a dozen dreams that covered the first third of the book and they didn’t stop until I wrote them. I’m excited to see what happens to Otto. How his story ends. The truth is, I have no idea what’s going to happen in the final book and I won’t until I write it.

Finally an update on preorders for The Great Northern War. We jumped up to 114. My thanks to everyone that decided to join me in following Otto’s journey into darkness.

Talk to you tomorrow.