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To order a Duffy book, click on one of the covers to the left.

I typed those two words yesterday at the end of “The Vegas Knockout, Round 4, A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery.”

Of course, as you writers know, THE END is an elusive beast. I feel uneasy about being done and I find myself wondering about big issues and tiny ones.

Big issues? Does the plot flow? Does the plot make sense and is it believable? Have I promised the reader anything and not paid off?

Little issues? Did I keep the names straight? Is the gym upstairs or downstairs? Am I making the correct turns in Las Vegas? Is my Spanish okay?

Well, some of this is for copy editors but I know I’m not supposed to rely on others. The goals is to have the tightest neatest manuscript as possible.

Then there’s the haunting refrain in my head “Go over it again, go over it again!” There’s undoubtedly some passive voice I missed, some unnecessary adverbs and plenty of choppy sentences.

Ugh…it’s tormenting.

Stephen King talks about writing with the door closed–that is, not showing anyone. And he refers to writing with the door open–letting others read what you came up.

I think it’s time.

It’s a little scary.

BTW– In this one Duff gets sent to Vegas to be a sparring partner for a Russian contender and gets involved with a legal brothel, the Mexican immigration thing and an evil Elvis impersonator. What do you think the cover should look like?