I'm breathing a little easier this week. I completed and turned in my proofreads of No Stone Left Unturned early this week and have been pounding away on the first draft of the fifth Honeywell mystery. As of today, I've topped 75,000 words. I expect this one to be around 90K or a little under, so I'm on target to meet my goal of completion by the end of August. Yay me! I do have one item on my to-do list that will take up part of my time this coming week. As I mentioned last time, I'm teaching a two-hour workshop for Steel Quill Workshops. It's titled Creating 3-Dimensional Characters and is geared toward all genres and all skill levels. If you're interested, click here to register. The workshop takes place on Sunday, August 24 from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 at 5858 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA. 

Last weekend's Pennwriters Conference went off without a hitch. Mostly. Having been a conference coordinator once a long, long time ago, I know there are lots of hitches and glitches behind the scenes. The trick is how you handle them. This year's coordinators handled them beautifully. I'd guess 99.9% of the attendees were unaware and were too busy having fun to notice. Smiling faces abounded. I had a glitch of my own to contend with. After teaching two workshops on Friday, I had one more to go on Saturday afternoon, and it was the one that totally depended on a PowerPoint slide show.  Friday night in my hotel room, I reached into my computer bag to pull out my laptop and was startled to feel how hot it was. Not scorching hot, but warmer than usual. Let me add that my beloved laptop is five years old, which seems to be their life expectancy. The battery no longer holds a charge, so I need to keep in plugged in when using it.  Anyway, I decided to err on the side of caution ...

When last I posted, my husband's retirement was imminent. Now, we're two months in and both of us are alive and well and still like each other. All good. I took advantage of having him around by taking a trip to New Mexico in September, leaving Kensi and her pills in his (somewhat) capable hands. She wasn't happy, but he did succeed in getting the pills down her throat. Meanwhile, I had a lovely escape and a nice visit with my dear friend, Leta. It was a relatively short stay and we didn't do a lot of exploring, but we ate out several times including some of the best fish and chips I've ever had. Yes, fish and chips. In Durango, Colorado. Don't judge. I also had chile rellenos and quesadillas in Aztec, New Mexico. I just forgot to take pictures. After a month of retirement, Hubby decided to go back to work. Parttime. Now, I have the house to myself for two days each week, which is working out well.  I took two road trips earlier this month, again leaving Kensi w...

Last week, I finished the second draft of Fatal Reunion AKA Zoe Chambers #11. Does that mean it's done? Oh, heck no. I have a critique group meeting this Sunday and they'll give me feedback on fifty pages of it. Next week, I'll work on their comments and make fixes as needed. But for the moment, Zoe and Pete and the gang are resting. I was supposed to teach an online writing workshop for a local library this Saturday, but it's been postponed. Happily, the reason for the postponement is the flipflop of last year's cancellations. We're putting it off until we can have the workshop IN PERSON, inside the library , later this summer. This makes me extremely happy. I love to teach, but much prefer seeing the looks of understanding or confusion on my students' faces, thereby allowing me to shift focus to keep everyone up to speed. That's nearly impossible when focusing on a shared-screen PowerPoint.  Which brings me to what my main focus is this week: Death by...

My Uneasy Prey blog tour is pretty much done, but the links are still up on my website if you want to see what you missed. I do have a couple more guest spots coming up including this Friday with the Wicked Cozies ... always a fun stop! This morning I turned in my revisions for Cry Wolf , the next Zoe Chambers Mystery coming this September. And I'm working on the NEXT next Zoe Chambers Mystery. In my "spare time" (cue the laughter), I'm updating my "Avoiding Emotional Cliches" workshop, which I'll be teaching this Saturday at the Writers Project Runway IV conference in Leesburg, Virginia. If you're a writer or aspire to be, you should check this out. It's an awesome line-up. And we'll be signing books later in the afternoon, so if you're in the area, stop by!

It’s been a wild few weeks. A combination of euphoria, celebration, panic, and nose-to-the-grindstone work. I have wonderful friends in the writing community who have been eager to celebrate with me. I’m overwhelmed. I keep recalling that infamous acceptance speech Sally Field made. You like me! You really like me! I’m touched and honored, because these people who are congratulating me and buying me chocolate and wine are the same people responsible for making me the writer I am. Anyhow, while the celebrations keep cropping up (surprise pie courtesy of Paula Matter at the Pennwriters board of directors meeting!), mostly I’m settled into the rhythm of work. Write, write, write, and write some more. My goal was to finish the first draft of Sins of the Fathers (book #2) by the end of September. Today! And I did it! Okay, it’s a prime example of what Anne Lamont calls the “shitty first draft,” but it’s words on a page. So much easier to fix than a blank one. In the next day o...

A large portion of 2010 was clouded by my hubby’s seven-month bout of unemployment. And I started out the year by parting company with my agent. Nevertheless, there were some moments worthy of acknowledgment before we send the year packing. First would be February’s snowmageddon. It was one of those things that’s better to look back on than it was to live through. Once the roads were cleared and the power restored, we had to travel to Confluence to shovel six-plus feet of snow from our camper’s roof. This involved snowshoeing into the campground, which was an adventure by itself. Continuing 2010’s fun with foul weather, in March, our local Sisters in Crime chapter ventured to Confluence (otherwise known as weather central) during a major flood (not part of the plan) for our weekend writing retreat. I can’t believe none of us have written a murder mystery story about that weekend yet. While the rising river vied for our attention, we did manage to have a lot of fun, eat a lot of food,...

I’m sorry to say I didn’t even last a week at the Write First Challenge. This just isn’t the time for me to not check email early. As I mentioned before, I’m taking a rather intense online course on querying given by C.J. Lyons. I’ve learned so much already that my head is spinning. The sheer number of messages produced by the participants has increased the mail in my inbox by about a thousand percent. When I let it get ahead of me, it takes hours to catch up. Yeah, I know. Excuses, excuses. The fact is I learned I’m not an early morning writer. I’ve trained my muse to be at the office by 9AM. Asking him to arrive earlier just doesn’t work. Or maybe it’s the fact the caffeine doesn’t kick in until then. Whatever. I’m going to come up with a different set of writing guidelines that work for me. But probably not this week. This week I’ll be writing, but my nonfiction efforts will be taking priority. Hey, writing and getting paid for it is a GOOD thing. I’ll be covering two different even...

I’d complain about it being a crazy busy week, but I fear I’d sound redundant. Life has been frantic all summer. And we simply will NOT discuss how much I did or did not accomplish on the to-do list I mentioned on Monday. Let’s just say it’s leeching over into my weekend and leave it at that. This morning, I put my query writing skills to use by composing a kick-ass cover letter to go with Hubby’s job resume. It’s something I’ve meant to do for a while now, but he never thought to ask, and let’s face it, if you don’t nag me about these things, they tend to get pushed to the bottom of that very long list. But a job opening has come to our attention that required one, so it was time. I’ve concluded that writing a cover letter for a resume isn’t far removed from writing a query letter for a story. Except instead of pitching the key elements of a novel or an article, I was pitching the capabilities of my husband. And just like writing from a character’s POV in fiction, I was writing this l...

I’m starting to gather the copies of my manuscript that I passed out to my first readers. So far, I haven’t looked at the detailed comments—I’ll save that for later this week when I plan to hang a Do Not Disturb sign on the door to my cave and put in a marathon rewrite session—but I have read and been pleased with the general overviews I’ve received. So it’s time to look beyond the spit and polish and revisions. Beginning with tonight. I plan to attend a joint Sisters in Crime/Pennwriters meeting which will focus on the pitch. I have the start of one, but it needs more polish than the manuscript does at this point. Hopefully, I’ll find some guidance in tonight’s presentation. Next on the agenda is the annual Festival of Mystery . Someday I hope to take part in it as an author, but once again, I’m serving as an escort for one of the participants. Besides being a fun way to spend the day, it will also be a prime opportunity to rehearse my pitch whenever someone asks what I’m writing abou...

We're still discussing great writing advice over at Working Stiffs and my offering today has to do with classes, courses, and workshops.

Friday night my friend Doris Dumrauf and I ventured through a southwestern Pennsylvania snow storm (the kind that makes folks rush to the grocery stores to stock up on toilet paper) to attend a workshop by Hallie Ephron presented by my Sisters in Crime chapter. I admit some guilt on not helping out enough with preparations for the workshop, but after spending eight-hour days preparing for the Pennwriters Conference, I was drained of any event-planning brain cells. My only sense of redemption comes from the fact that I did use my Pennwriters mailing lists to promote the workshop. Hallie and the majority of the registrants made it to the Chatham University campus and the workshop was fabulous. I’d heard Hallie teach before and knew the evening would be worth the voyage. I was right. She gave me much food for thought regarding my current work in progress. Why is it that you can hear the same criticism and advice on your work and completely ignore it until you hear it put a specific way ...

We have a heat pump! Of course, it’s been so cool outside that we haven’t needed the whole house air conditioning. But we have it. Bring on the heatwave! And since it’s Wednesday, I’m over at Working Stiffs with lots of pictures from Sunday’s horse show and some old pictures from way back when, too. Was I ever that young???

Saturday was an early morning with the annual membership meeting taking place during breakfast. My poor toes were a mess by then, so I decided to revert to my yoga instructor footwear: bare feet. Even when I was called to the podium to talk about next year’s conference, I did it sans shoes. It was funny for a while. But eventually I returned to my room and changed from dress slacks to dressy blue jeans and my trusty sneakers. I made a point of attending more workshops on Saturday than I had on Friday. Loree Lough presented two that offered a ton of useful information. Writing the Dreaded Synopsis could also be called Organizing Your Thoughts BEFORE You Write Your Novel. But that would take up too much space in the program. Later, she spoke about Perfect Plotting. Her advice to those who write by the seat of the pants? STOP THAT. She gave me some wonderful tools to help clear up my currently muddled outline. I also attended Victoria Thompson’s workshop on Dialogue. While I think dialogu...

I’m back from the Pennwriters Conference and jazzed to get back to work on my writing. The inspiration one receives at such an event is worth the price of admission not even taking into account the actual workshops and lectures. For the next few days, I’m going to relate some of my experiences and epiphanies during the course of the weekend. I WAS going to begin with a list of what’s in and what’s out in the publishing industry, but Jane Friedman of Writer’s Digest already covered that and more in her blog. Click here to read about her experiences at the conference. Scroll down. She has several days worth of insight. Day One (Thursday) involved travel, a Pennwriters board of directors meeting, and setting up the freebies table. Since I was this year’s freebies coordinator (AGAIN), I had a carload of boxes containing magazines, brochures, submissions guidelines, other promotional materials. Thankfully, there was room for my luggage. With Aerosmith and Oasis rocking on the CD player, I...

Yesterday, after months of preparation, I played host for Pennwriters’ Firearms 101 for Writers Workshop. The workshop was a joint effort between Pennwriters’ Area 3, of which I am the representative, and Area 1, which is represented by Catherine McLean. Catherine took care of all the sweet treats and hot beverages, budgeting and registration. I took care of the presenters, lunch orders, and bottled water. And I delegated the presenters portion of the assignment to my hubby. For the last few months, I’ve been watching him prepare for his own presentation at the workshop. He built an atlatl and ordered darts (spears) for it. He borrowed swords from his sister and brother-in-law. He read and made notes of historical interest. I’ve never seen him study so hard. The workshop’s first presenter was 79 year-old Max Kremin, who I suspect may become the basis for several characters in several novels in the not-so-distant future. I also suspect he’s already been used in that status previously, a...

I don’t know how I managed this—temporary insanity or perhaps I forgot how to read a calendar—but I have three workshops to prepare for within the next eleven days. And these aren’t workshops that I’m TAKING. These are workshops that I’m either presenting or organizing. First up is another restorative yoga workshop this Sunday afternoon. I love restorative yoga. I love teaching it. I REALLY love practicing it. So planning a three-hour workshop is no big deal. Ordinarily, I’d have had it all mapped out a week ago. Not this time. I have a list of the supported poses I want to present, but I still need to determine the best order to achieve the deepest sense of relaxation. There are certain things that need to be taken into consideration. For instance, I don’t want to schedule a posture that involves lying on your belly near the end. Best to do those right after the bathroom break. Comfort is key, after all. The BIG workshop on my plate is Firearms 101 for Writers. I’m not presenting it. ...

I vaguely remember thinking last autumn how wonderful the solitude of winter would be. Life would slow down. I’d be snowed in with nothing to do but write. Well, that fantasy has long since evaporated. I spent the snowiest days shoveling the driveway so I could get out to visit Mom at the Health Center. Hubby’s car remains patched with duct tape after his encounter with a patch of ice and a fence post. My car lost an eye this winter. No, not an “eye.” An “i.” My Saturn Ion is now a Saturn On. But there are lots of reasons why I’m looking forward to spring. Here are a few: I’m sick of wearing the same old sweaters and sweatshirts day in and day out. I am sooo ready for a wardrobe change. Even if I don’t buy anything new, I haven’t seen my summer duds in months so they will SEEM new. I’m sick of black and white and gray and brown. That’s all I see out my window. I’m ready for some color. My daffodils have poked their noses above the leaf mulch. The lilac bush’s buds are swelling. But so ...

The week is ending on a better note than it started. I confess, I spent several mornings this week muttering bad words under my breath. But I’ve survived, it’s Friday, and just about all the headaches of the last week have resolved. Yesterday was another day of running from one place to another and dealing with mini-crises in between. Spent the morning ironing out some issues with our upcoming Firearms 101 for Writers Workshop. Having hubby be one of the presenters offers unique problems. And benefits, too. But problems at least get a more immediate reaction. And solution. So all is well. Our Bridgeville Pennwriters group met for lunch with our former fearless leader in attendance. Lorraine Henderson created the group years ago. In recently times, she’s been dealing with some serious health issues. It was good to see her and especially to see her looking so healthy. I had to leave a little early so I could make Mom’s appointment to get her taxes done. Since she was unable to go, I was...

If I were a man, I’d be bald. And the fact that Male Pattern Baldness runs in my family has nothing to do with it. As it is, I’m simply sprouting a new crop of gray hairs. How is it that I always tend to say yes to projects in the future, assuming that I won’t be as busy by then? Duh. Mental note to self: STOP THAT. The Restorative Yoga program that I taught yesterday appears to have been a success. Everyone left looking relaxed and mellow. We’re going to do it again the end of next month. No problem there. I enjoy planning these workshops, if you can actually justify calling it a WORKshop. No, my current source of stress is the decision I made almost a year ago to take on the role of 2009 Conference Coordinator. Suddenly, I’m faced with demands to have the thing all planned out when it’s still over a year away. It didn’t take me that long to plan my wedding! Meanwhile, the Firearms 101 for Writers Workshop I’m helping plan for April is coming together. That sounds so nice and tidy. Th...