Monday Musings on Tuesday

Part of the problem with my new motto of WRITING FIRST is that other stuff doesn’t get done. Like a new blog yesterday. But I did get a few new pages written on the short story.

I admit, I haven’t worked on it yet this morning. But the coffee isn’t ready yet and my brain has yet to kick into gear.

Plus my plans for today (a critique group meeting) have been cancelled, so I have received the gift of several additional hours…in fact, a whole day…at home, to write and work on the conference. In that order.

Last Friday night, I attended a publication party for my friend, local writer Lila Shaara, whose new book The Fortune Teller’s Daughter is on sale NOW. I loved her first book Every Secret Thing and anticipate loving this one, too. If you missed her guest blog on Working Stiffs last week in which she tells about some of the inspiration for this book, click here now to read it.

Publication parties at Mystery Lovers Bookshop are wonderful things. Of course, I love the store and any excuse to hang out there is always a treat. I arrived early (no traffic for once) and helped set up the table with stacks of books, the cover flap tucked into the title page so Lila could easily open each one to the page to be signed. If I lived closer (it’s an almost 100 mile round trip to get to the store), I’d hound Mary Alice and Richard for a job. Lila arrived with trays of food and guests started flooding in.

Our local Sisters in Crime was well represented with authors Nancy Martin, Kathryn Miller Haines, Kathleen George, and Martha Reed in attendance along with my fellow Citizens’ Police Academy alumni and Working Stiff, Gina Sestak.

It was great fun visiting with everyone while surrounded by books. If you’ve never been to an author event, I highly recommend it. Authors are almost ALWAYS the best hosts. We’re so grateful that anyone shows up to buy our books!

Me and Lila

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