Halfway Home?

I just finished Chapter 7 of the 3rd novel, minutes ago. It's a short chapter, balancing out the very long one right before it. It feels like I'm somewhere around the midway mark: everything's been set up, lots of balls are in the air, and some mysteries have been introduced. My brother Richard has helped with a few bits in it, and Julie suggested a couple of helpful plot ideas last week. Even with those contributions, though, this story has been written on my own more than either of the first two. Hopefully that doesn't turn out to be a bad thing!

As usual, one of the hardest parts of writing is the not being able to talk about it while you're doing it aspect. Another challenge is the unshakable feeling that whatever you come up with won't be as good as the book before it, which I definitely had while writing No Brother of Mine, and am experiencing again, now that NBoM is the new bar against which I judge myself.  There's not much I can do about that, however, except try to write the best book I can.  So on I go!