To be honest, I can’t really say for sure. I can tell you that what I’m working on right now isn’t about Grouse Creek. So it’s very likely the next book I publish won’t be about Grouse Creek.
However, I do have a few more ideas involving Grouse Creek. I thought I had about two more Grouse Creek books in mind, but it might end up just being one. I really only have a few new characters, a few old characters, and some bits of plot rattling around in my brain. Nothing has formed into a real story at this point.
The first two Grouse Creek books kind of followed the same pattern when they came into existence. In both cases, I wrote the first chapter or two long before the rest of the plot came together. In the case of The Abandoned Church, I wrote the beginning (Mira driving through the Christmas tree farm and arriving at the motel) several years before I figured out who Mira actually was and what she was doing running away with a child who wasn’t hers. I knew there would be a rather tough guy named Cal who played a role, and I knew where his house was and what it looked like, but that was about it. I did have some of the town’s geography in mind, but there wasn’t even an abandoned Orthodox church in Grouse Creek at that point (and the town wasn’t called Grouse Creek).
In the case of The Homecoming, I wrote the beginning shortly after I finished The Abandoned Church, but then it took two or three years before I figured out what exactly Jordan Rinesmith was going to do when he got home.
If you’re getting the idea that I’m not always the fastest writer, that’s entirely accurate!
Anyway, I don’t even have the beginning written for the next Grouse Creek novel. I can’t promise there will ever actually be another Grouse Creek novel. It’s possible all I’ll ever have is characters and bits of plot floating around in my brain. I’d love to revisit Grouse Creek, though, so I hope eventually a story will come together.
“But, wait,” you say, having read the first paragraph of this post. “What’s this mysterious thing you said you were working on now?” It’s an Orthodox novel totally different from Grouse Creek. That’s all I’m going to say right now! The going is slow since I’m still struggling with my health (also, see above, I’m not always the world’s fastest writer).
P.S. You may notice I brightened up this site a little bit. (Or, if you haven’t been here in a while, you may not notice, which is fine!) The color scheme is now a little less brown and a little more blue/cream. I may do more of a redesign in the future, but I’m not sure yet.
