No AI training. Just stop. You don’t have my permission. #stopthescrape

When I was introducing Thriller Thursdays last week, I mentioned the difference between crime (mysteries) and thrillers. Honestly, it’s the knowing whodunnit and stopping them that I like as the good guys try to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. What I like even more is when said good guys aren’t all that good. I read Tom Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger” last summer and really enjoyed it, not least as it was a paperback version with a cool cover that I tracked down on the Internet. I like the original Tom Clancy books. Sure, they could be accused of being dated, but he knows – or he knew – how to craft a compelling story. I chugged through 700 pages without taking a break and loved it. I’m now reading another Tom Clancy book, “Without Remorse”, also in paperback, also 700+ pages.

I have yet to write anything as lengthy, and while I would never compare myself to Tom Clancy, I don’t mind being inspired to write something similar.

The Bolivian Girl is just shy of 300 pages, so not even half a Clancy novel. And again, it’s not the number of pages that define a book, rather in a book that size you have space to do stuff. Having space is nice, and having the time to write something that big is also nice. But having the time means not worrying about bills to pay. Those two things are closely tied. I’m afraid, so I tend to work on the big stuff and longer works when I have a free evening, or plenty of funds in the bank. 😉

However, while struggling with covid today, I’ll keep this short. I can, however, reveal that I’m publishing The Bolivian Girl one chapter at a time on Patreon every Thursday at 5 p.m. CET for all paid tiers. You can check it out here.

Right… off to find some tea!

Chris