My days as a serial killer have ended

In writing "Nomad" (the sequel to "Plotz" that was published in 2011) over the past 10 months, I have been an intrepid investigative reporter, a fiery female behavioral analyst, a police detective(s) and a serial killer.

I finished the last chapter on 06.18.12. To be honest, it has been quite exhausting -- both physically and mentally. So I am taking a short (two weeks at least) vacation before I begin the editing and rewriting process. I have decided to add an epilogue, but will wait until after the aforementioned process that all writers face after typing "THE END" at the bottom of the page.

The "Nomad" cover was created by my nephew-in-law, a very talented Roderick Mullins, who resides in Wise, Va. He took my original idea, added his own artistic touch and -- well, you can see the end result at right.

I suppose all writers do their role-playing bit -- placing themselves in the shoes of a particular character. As Evan (my protagonist), who is the crime reporter for the fictional Glamorgan Gazette, I felt I was in familiar environs. As a newspaperman for 29 years, I drew on my experience as a reporter and an editor to "help" Evan piece together the mystery behind Nomad, the serial killer.

Becoming Annie (my heroine) was no easy assignment. She is a comprehensive composite of several women I have known, met professionally or seen on TV (think "Criminal Minds").

As for doing the detective work, I relied on my experience as a police reporter (a long, long time ago) and, again, TV (think "Law and Order" or "Law and Order: Criminal Intent").

Becoming Nomad was the most difficult task that I faced. In reality, I am not a serial killer; however, to write about one, I spent months pretending to be one. I did scads of research (Google and I became the best of friends) and read about Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jack the Ripper and, of course, Hannibal Lecter (I even watched the four-star "Silence of the Lambs").

Psychologically-speaking, I had to place myself inside a serial killer's head; and, in doing so, when I penned Nomad's murderous deeds, I made certain that my readers were inside Nomad's head, too.

In "Plotz" (co-written with Sandra Z. Bruney using the pen name Marshall Bruney), readers did a lot of traveling across the state of North Carolina and visited several well-known sites and ate some fine, fine North Carolina food. In "Nomad," the reader will visit Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Odessa, Texas, as Evan unravels similar Nomad cases.

So dear friends, if you meet me on the street, don't panic. I'm not sizing you up as my next victim. I just haven't been able to get rid of "the look" yet. (:-)