Finally, I’m back to reading about wolves, preparing, at last, to begin a sequel to Runt. To further my research, I recently attended a weekend called Wild about Wolves and Bears at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota. My brother, Willis, went with me and took lots of wonderful photos. The most exciting moment was when the wolves at the center went into a howl. We were standing inside the center, just a few feet from where they were on display, and their voices were picked up on a microphone and brought into the center through speakers all around us. I felt as though I were standing in the middle of a howling pack.

I’ve also reread Runt and plan to read it again one more time. (I don’t often reread my novels, once they are published.) But I’ve never written a sequel to one of my books before, and I must not forget any part of what I set up in the first story.

Can you guess what the sequel will be called? If you’ve read Runt, I’ll bet you can.

It will be Singer.

As you can tell, I have been working on lots of different projects lately. I can do that when the projects are small or when I’m mostly researching on one. I can’t move back and forth between two different novels, however, and once I am immersed in writing a novel it isn’t as easy to take time off for smaller projects like picture books.

So now...back to work!