Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Laffeinated Ink

Some of the authors with Gemma Halliday Publishing will be meeting for virtual coffee breaks at laffeinatedink.com, starting April 1. I'll be bringing my Dr. Pepper every day, and providing the words to go with the caffeine on the fourth Monday of each month.

There will be lots of good stuff at the blog before it's my turn. For one thing, every Tuesday will feature a new release of a book that might be of interest to our readers, with guest posts from the book's author(s). The first one will be by Margaret Breasheares and and Donna Helmedag, the authors of Murder By Paint (humorous romantic suspense). You can read more about the book here.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day


I made this years ago, starting with a shamrock block from Quiltmaker magazine, and then adding an "Irish chain" border. It's wallhanging size (about 30" x 40").

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Darlings

A couple months ago, I was killing my darlings (sentences I love, but that pull the reader out of the story), and now I'm happily creating new ones in a new story.

The darling that I really wanted to work in A Stinkin' Plot consisted of night-owl Mabel's reflections on the wisdom of telling a joke at the crack of dawn. She decides not to, because "she firmly believed it was unhealthy to engage in any activity whatsoever before noon, and that was doubly true of drinking hard liquor and delivering punch-lines." 

I guess you had to be there. 

I liked it, but it really had to go.


Monday, March 3, 2014

Fresh start, March 2014

Tentative release date:
Nursing A Grudge, Gemma Halliday Publishing, June 2014

Primary WIP:
Finish first draft: A Monkey Wrench In The Works (sequel to Robbing Peter ...)

Fun WIP (for mini vacations from more structured writing):
Victoria and the Vapors (homage to Sherlock Holmes), to be outlined

Status of other Fiction WIPs:
Seeing Red (cozy mystery, sequel to Nursing A Grudge), second draft complete
A Four-Patch of Trouble (cozy mystery featuring quilt appraiser sleuth), on submission
Robbing Peter to Kill Paul (novella?, sequel to A Four-Patch of Trouble), outlined
Tree of Life and Death (holiday novella, sequel to Monkey Wrench), first draft done
A Stinkin' Plot (cozy mystery on garlic farm), complete
Plowed Under (cozy mystery, sequel to A Stinkin' Plot) outlined
Fatal Forfeit (legal thriller) 50+ pages of first draft completed), on hold
One Cat is Never Enough (post-apocalyptic cozy mystery series; 4 books outlined), on hold
Arresting Amelia (vague idea for cozy mystery set at general aviation airport)

Status of other Non-fiction WIPs:
Financial Planning For Authors (languishing in writers' block limbo)
Legal Research for Authors (non-fiction book, outlined)
Contracts for Authors (non-fiction book, outlined)
Estate Planning for Stashes (refers to collections of yarn, fabric, art, books, beads, Tardises, etc.): four-part series posted on blog, to be edited and formatted into a digital book.

Speaking appearances
July 23-26, 2014, Romance Writers of America national conference in San Antonio, Texas. Topic is estate planning for authors. More on the conference here
May 2-3, 2014, New England Chapter, RWA "Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference." Topic is estate planning for authors. More on the conference here.

Guest blog posts
Ruby-slippered Sisterhood, on estate planning for authors, December 19, 2013