A recent AP-Ipsos poll found that nearly a third of the men in this country and a quarter of the women admit to not having read a book in the past year. The typical person read about four books, and most of them were women and older folks who supposedly have more time.
This should give pause to those of us who toil at writing more books for people not to read. What it does is place more pressure on published authors to promote, promote, promote, or they may never find an audience for their books. While I do a goodly amount of promotion for my books, I've spent the last six weeks cloistered in my office trying to complete WINDRUSHER AND THE TRAIL OF FIRE.
My publisher, Ocean Publishing, plans to release it in the spring of 2008 and I've been working to get them the completed manuscript. Don't give up on me, Frank. It will be coming soon. I've seen some unexpected twists and turns arise as I've approached the end of the book. My hero will once again find the challenges before him are immense, but as usual he's able to rise to the occasion.
In the next few months, I might be able to give you more information about the book, but that will have to wait. One exciting bit of news, though, is that Andrew Robinson has agreed to do the cover art for book three. Andrew is the fantastic artist who created the cover art for the first two Windrusher books. I can hardly wait to see what he comes up with.
Now that I see some light at the end of the writing tunnel, I've scheduled a number of appearances and signing events throughout the fall. You can always check my Appearances page on my website, http://www.windrusher.com/Appearances.html, but here are a few coming up soon. If you get a chance, please stop by and say hello.

• Barnes & Noble Mandarin Signing – Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m. 11112 San Jose Boulevard. B&N will donate a portion of all sales to Mandarin High School.
• Barnes & Noble Daytona Beach Signing – Saturday, September 15 at 1PM to 4PM 1900 W International Speedway.
• Nease High School – Tuesday, September 18 at 9:30 a.m. A trio of regional authors will speak to a school assembly of IB students about writing, books, and the publishing industry. Joining Vic is Carol O'Dell and Allen Bohl.
• Amelia Island Book Festival – Friday, October 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Join Vic for the Writing Groups Panel at 10:30, and then again for his presentation, Let's Make a Scene, at 2:00 p.m. Check back later for specific location in downtown Fernandina Beach. Vic also hosts Books by the Beach at Sliders from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m