I've planned for this month all summer. By "planned" I mean I've been saying NO a lot. No doctor appointments, no speaking engagements. No days off.  All I'm doing is writing.  Before I go any further, let me catch you up on Rule of Thirds , the first in my new Lake Erie Mystery Series. First, it's no longer " Rule of Thirds ." The sales and marketing teams at One More Chapter (HarperCollins UK) have changed the title to Where The Guilty Hide . My first reaction to the new moniker was "OooOOooo..." Which is precisely what they were going for. Second, it's no longer the Lake Erie Mysteries. It's now the Detective Honeywell mysteries. Matthias (Honeywell) is overjoyed to get top billing and, in my fictional world, is flaunting it over Pete Adams, who has been miffed about not sharing the billing with Zoe Chambers all these years.  Good thing these two characters live in different parts of the state.  Anyway, I'm okay with this sec...

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...

I'm about to hit the road to Lancaster, PA, for the first in-person Pennwriters Conference since 2019. This weekend I'll be on a publishing panel and teaching one or two workshops (one for sure; another is on standby in case another instructor can't make it). I'm less anxiety-ridden about this trip, having survived the one to Bethesda for Malice three weeks ago. My people skills aren't so rusty this time! Before I leave, though, I wanted to share the rest of the BIG NEWS in my life and career.  First, last week I signed a two-book contract with HarperCollins UK (One More Chapter) for a new series set along Lake Erie!  If you look back at one of my more frustrating posts , you'll read about my ongoing battle with proposals. THIS new series was one of those. Thanks to my fabulous agent, Dawn Dowdle, it has found a wonderful home. You'll be hearing more on it in the near future. And finally, next month I'll be sharing the stage at the Steamfitters Event Cen...

The last time I traveled was to Dallas in late 2019. While I had plans for lots of trips in 2020, we all know what happened to those. I had a list of things I wanted to do and places and people I wanted to visit as soon as it was possible. Now that we're fully vaccinated, I've been checking those items off.  One of the places I longed to return to was Lake Erie and Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. I had enough points earned for a free night in a hotel. I made my reservations. Plans started looking hinky a week ago when Hubby came down with a cold. I was on the verge of canceling, but by mid-week, he was feeling much better. He wanted to go. So I packed.  Friday, friends we were supposed to meet up with for Saturday dinner got called away on a family emergency.  Still, we went.  The weather was lovely.  There was a Hudson car show in our hotel's parking lot.  I want one.  Another friend had arranged for me to meet an Erie detective and tour the poli...

I can't bring myself to celebrate winter. I've never skied. My sledding and inner-tubing days are long behind me. I used to attempt skating, but the memories of landing on my backside keep me from ever trying it again.  Nope, I don't do winter.  But I love Winter Solstice. It's about looking forward to more hours of daylight. This is it. We've bottomed out on the darkness quotient and are heading toward spring! We had snow last week. It was pretty. Yes, although I don't do winter, I can appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature painting the world in black and white.  Ask me again in January or February (or March!) and I won't have anything nice to say about snow. But it's the week leading up to Christmas, so I'm okay with it. Ha! As if I get a say! The longest year in the history of the world is winding down. I'm cautiously optimistic about the New Year, although I have no illusions about things suddenly becoming rosy just because the ball drops at ...