It was while working on the third big round of Waverly 4 revisions late Dec/early January that I thought “omg there is so much going on here, I think I need to take notes.”* I was constantly wishing I had Waverly’s big murder board that’s in her bedroom (that actually consists of three boards) where she lays things out or that I might need a proper murder journal.
Somehow the thought spiralled from there to make a Waverly-themed mostly blank journal (cover design inspired by the OG secret diary, of course, but sized 5.5×8.5 and using the Nancy Drew font so it’s matchy with the hardcovers).
I wrote out the timeline from the Port Milton cycle of the killings, including stuff from the Patreon backstory shorts (and a few references to stuff that I intend to write later) and peppered in it are references to the past (along with one thing from the sixth book) with papers and articles tucked in it, coffee stains, and doodles. The only thing better would’ve been to have full colour images, but sadly that would’ve jacked the price way up–this is $9.99 USD, 200 pages.
Obviously one could just get a regular journal from the dollar store if they wanted to go so far as to take notes, but at the very least I had a lot of fun making this. And, my god, we gotta have fun sometimes. I’m already in the red with everything I publish, factoring in time spent, and getting some line art for the first couple of hardcovers in 2023 meant going even deeper in the red, but the end result was something I am very happy to have invested in because I love the hardcovers. I’m working with an other artist right now on some drawings, a couple being printed as die-cut stickers for some patrons, and they’re cute and make me happy (and I am thrilled to support human-made art).
This series occupies my head 90% of the time and I’m happy to have a fun thing to offer readers who are also in that place. My long-time book blogger friend Mel just got into the series–she’s generally a fantasy reader rather than straight mysteries, but she’s got out her sticky notes to keep track of everything.
I’ve worked really hard with this series, despite it being entirely Waverly’s POV, to fill the town with people who seem to live and breathe even outside her perspective, to have the cases feel like they happened to real people, for everything to be extremely grounded and like you could search for articles about these crimes and find them online.** The journal is part of that.
If you need a copy, you can grab it at Amazon.*** (Also can be used for a regular journal, of course.)
I’ve got a busy work week ahead of me with projects to send off and taxes to finish, and my place is a mess, so I’m off to do some chores and take a stab at this week’s tutorial.
Tomorrow is also Twin Peaks Day! I’ll be live-tweeting**** over at Bsky because I love the pilot so much.
It does feel necessary to acknowledge the thing that started it all, after all.
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* I don’t do notes with anything. Future books are all kept in my head and although I keep meaning to build a story bible, I never get around to it, so I have to reread bits to refresh my memory.
** Mel mentioned to me she kept wanting to google the cases for more information. Honestly so do I and occasionally I have to remind myself I made all this up lol.
*** Yes, yes, I know, and you do you if you’re boycotting. I don’t sell enough print of anything to justify the expense of setting up with Ingram, and going through D2D would require me to increase the price of everything by at least $5 across the board so that I still make $2 per print book. I’m not doing that to a handful of readers just so one or two people can feel morally superior.
**** I’m still calling it that, whatever.
Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror.
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