Life and deadlines have kept me from posting here lately. Seems I need a deadline to get anything done. Well, I have one now. I'm the new kid in the group blog, Writers Who Kill and today is my first post there. I'll continue to post every other Sunday, and I hope you'll follow me and the rest of the group. Today's post is about Selective Deafness --sifting through the noise and clutter of life to find what's really important.

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 crazy busy couple of months leading up to TODAY. Uneasy Prey is now available! It felt like a long time coming for this one, and I'm pretty proud of it. " From USA TODAY bestselling author Annette Dashofy, comes the latest in her multi-award-nominated Zoe Chambers mystery series. And this one’s a page-turner. On the way to the emergency room, an elderly woman regains consciousness long enough to inform paramedic Zoe Chambers that her fall down the basement steps was no accident. Before she can say more, she succumbs to her injuries, launching Zoe and Police Chief Pete Adams into the investigation of a burglary ring targeting the area’s vulnerable senior citizens. Zoe—in spite of Pete’s objections—takes it upon herself to act as protection detail after the con men, disguised as water company employees, set their sights on Zoe’s beloved former landlady. It’s a decision that eventually puts Zoe in harm’s way. With Zoe already recovering from on...

I delivered my 7th Zoe Chambers Mystery (Cry Wolf) to my publisher earlier this week, which means I've been freed from Book Jail. At least for the moment. There has been a lot going on so let me catch you up.  Old news, but in case you missed it, Uneasy Prey (Zoe Chambers #6) is available for preorder! Depending on your preference, you can order it on Amazon , through Barnes and Noble , Kobo , or iTunes .  In addition to the usual business of writing and selling books, I received an interesting email last month. A Hollywood film company has expressed interest in adapting my Zoe Chambers Mysteries for a series of TV movies! Once I determined that it wasn't April Fool's Day and indeed, none of my jokester friends were pulling a prank on me, I did a little squealing and happy dancing! Now though, my feet are firmly back on the ground. Most likely, nothing will come of this, but it's a heckuva lotta fun imagining who would play Zoe and Pete. Who do you see in those...

The 7th Zoe Chambers mystery is due to my editor February 6. Less than two weeks to pull this mess of a story together into something publishable. So of course, there are distractions going on in my life. Some potentially good and exciting. And then there's my husband's car.  It went into convulsions when he started it to come home from work yesterday. He phoned me at 3:00 saying he was waiting for a tow truck and could I pick him up at his mother's house (walking distance from the garage and 25 minutes from here). Answer: YES. But, he told me, wait until he called back, which he would do once they were on the road. By 5:15, I'd heard nothing and wondered if I'd misunderstood. I phoned him back--and let's just say he didn't sound happy. Still waiting for the tow. 7:15. Still nothing. Apparently, AAA (whom we LOVE, by the way) had taken down his phone number wrong. No call-back, no tow. Then they went to the wrong town. Obviously, they couldn't locate h...

There are a lot of "moments" in the creation of a new book. From the flicker of an idea to the index cards, sticky notes, and legal pads full of scribbles to the setting up the document and typing "Chapter One" to the rush of months later typing "The End." There are editorial note and revisions. There's the moment you first see the artwork that becomes the cover. There are galleys to be proofed. But somehow, that moment when the latest title goes up online with the "Pre-order" button live, it all becomes real. We shift from creative mode to marketing mode because now there's something to sell. It's more than a vision. It's a novel soon to be in our readers' hands. That's where I am right now. Uneasy Prey, the sixth (SIXTH!!!) Zoe Chambers Mystery is now available for pre-order from Amazon and from Barnes & Noble. And so it begins.

Happy New Year! We made it! There were times in 2017 when I wasn't so sure. But here we are with a fresh year ahead of us. I'm excited about 2018! I have two (yes, TWO) new Zoe Chambers Mysteries coming out this year. Uneasy Prey will be available later this week for pre-orders and the official cover reveal will be Thursday on Dru's Book Musings Blog! The release is scheduled for March 27. The 7th Zoe Chambers Mystery (working title: Cry Wolf ) should be coming out sometime in September if all goes according to plan. This will be the first time since 2014 that I've released two books in the same year. Back then I had no clue what I was doing or what I was in for. Not sure I do now either! I always start out the year thinking I'm not going to travel as much as I did last year. This year is no different. I do know I'll be making my annual treks to Bethesda, Maryland, for Malice Domestic and to Aztec, New Mexico. I have a road trip planned in early A...