Once again, I've fallen behind on my posts, but I have a good excuse. Several, actually. June was a busy month.  In case you missed it, there was my interview with James Patterson.  In addition to a bunch of appearances throughout the month, I was working on the next Zoe and Pete mystery, tentatively titled Helpless . It's proving to be quite the challenge.  At the end of the month, I received word that Death By Equine had made the cut and has been named one of THREE finalists for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award! I'll be traveling to Lexington, Kentucky, in November for the announcement of the $10,000 winner.  I also received my first editorial letter from my new UK publisher for the first book in my new Lake Erie Mysteries series. I wasn't sure what to expect. New editor. New publisher. The United Kingdom. But I couldn't be more pleased with her insights and suggestions. So for several weeks, I put Helpless on the backburner and focused my full attention on revisions...

There seems to be a love-hate relationship going on in the world with regards to “social networking.” For example, my very private husband hates it. Of course, the very fact that I’ve mentioned him THIS much in this blog is enough to draw a rant from him. So I’ll leave him alone for the rest of it. I, however, rather enjoy Facebook. Even though I despise the frequent changes to it (Dear People in Charge at Facebook: Why do you reconfigure everything as soon as I finally get comfortable with the LAST changes you made????), I like being in touch with friends I rarely see, as well as being in even closer touch with those I see frequently. For me it’s a total contrast from my normal life. I’ve lived in the country all my life. More of my neighbors are cattle than humans. I write. A good portion of my time is spent alone. (I would something here about that last sentence being wishful thinking now that Hubby is unemployed, but I’ve promised to leave him out of this.) Ah-hem. Moving right al...

I’ve noticed the world seems to be divided into two camps. The one that I live in which involves blogging and visiting (AKA wasting time) on Facebook and the one inhabited by residents who snarl “It’s nobody’s business what I’m doing.” What makes it difficult is when opposing camps live under the same roof. Welcome to my world. I know I’m not alone. For instance, everyone knows who Dolly Parton is. Have you ever seen her husband? FYI, no, I’m not comparing myself to Dolly Parton. That’s laughable for so many reasons. But I do tend to be a social butterfly. At least online. Other members of my household don’t get it. They also don’t want to be mentioned in my blog posts or on my Facebook page. Which is really too bad. The stories I could tell… But I won’t. I had a revelation this morning about my enjoyment of Facebook and posting status updates when absolutely nothing remotely interesting is going on. This is the narrative of my life. I’ve had a running narrative going on in my head sin...