I started writing Death by Equine back around 2005. I landed my first agent with it, but it never sold. The agent and I parted company a couple of years later.   Fast forward to last spring. I'd completed Til Death , my tenth Zoe Chambers mystery, and had reached the end of my contract. I wasn't sure what was next.  I dragged out that 15-year-old manuscript and run it through my critique group to determine if it held up and was worth revisiting. They liked it, so I decided to delve into the world of indie publishing.  I contacted a cover artist and sent the manuscript to my freelance editor. Within the last two weeks, I received the results from both.  So far, nothing has been that far from my previous experience. Yes, I had a lot more say in the cover, but I've worked with my editor for most of the Zoe mysteries and her comments came as no surprise. (What is always a surprise is how I miss all that stuff!) Going forward, though, feels like entering a strange n...

If you've known me for any length of time, you probably know that the character of Harry Adams ( Lost Legacy , Uneasy Prey , Cry Wolf , Til Death ) is loosely based on my dad, who had Alzheimer's. And you might also know that my mom later was diagnosed with vascular dementia.  The topics of caregiving and especially caregiver's guilt, of which I'm well acquainted, are near and dear to my heart.  I was honored (and quite frankly, a bit terrified) to join my dear friends Bobbi and Mike Carducci on their Rodger That podcast to share my experiences with the topic. It's one of the hardest interviews I've ever done. Click here to listen. 

If you're one of my newsletter subscribers (who actually opens and reads them), you already know about my next book, coming May 2021. But if you aren't (or haven't), here's a little bit about it.  Death by Equine Veterinarian Jessie Cameron agrees to fill in for her mentor, Doc Lewis at Riverview Racetrack so he can take a long-overdue vacation. When he's tragically killed by one of his equine patients the night before he's supposed to leave, Jessie quickly suspects the death is anything but accidental. Her search for the truth is thwarted by everyone from well-meaning friends to the police, including her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Undaunted, she discovers layers of illegal activities and deceit being perpetrated by the man she thought of as a father figure, creating a growing list of suspects with reason to want Doc dead. Too late, she realizes that her dogged quest for the truth has put her in the crosshairs of a devious killer desperate to silence her. Permanentl...

I gave up making resolutions decades ago. Those wishes that sound good on January first but that have no solid plan to accomplish. "I want to lose weight" or "I want to get published" just don't work without hard work and deadlines. Last year, I made plans and goals and...well...we all know what happened there too!  This year? I have a combination of concrete goals and hopeful plans. My goals look like a production schedule.  January - send manuscript to freelance editor, start drafting new manuscript, contact cover artist about the manuscript being edited, continue second draft of the next Zoe mystery. February - receive manuscript back from editor and begin final rounds of revisions, continue drafting new manuscript and second drafting next Zoe mystery, solidify cover art, begin putting marketing plan in place. I was going to go on, but frankly it's boring. Besides, you get the idea. Concrete goals are the things I know I can do to move the process ahead. ...

I've been dragging my feet about writing this post. Let's face it. Most of us would much prefer to forget about 2020 rather than look back at it. But I don't think we can do a good job of looking forward without acknowledging what we've been through. I released two books in 2020. Under the Radar came out in late February. I had lots of travel plans, book festivals, mystery conferences, and book signings lined up. I managed to squeak in my launch party, a joint event with pal Liz Milliron at Mystery Lovers Bookshop.  But the rest of my plans fell, one by one, like dominos.  My second 2020 book, Til Death , came out in June.  My launch party and subsequent appearances were virtual. My sales took a hit, but not as bad as I'd anticipated. Folks were stuck at home and reading more. Plus, with no travel expenses, my finances balanced out.  Still, my writing career seemed to be in freefall for much of the year. Til Death was the last book of my contract. As I wrote it, I...

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 ...

In writing and in life, patience is not only a virtue, it's a survival necessity. Being doggedly stubborn also helps. Almost twenty years ago, when we last had the roof on our log cabin replaced, I wanted GREEN. Preferably green steel. But the menfolk in my family solidly refused and I ended up with brown shingles.  Blah. I'm not usually a nag, but ever since, every time I see a green roof on a log home, I point it out to my husband in the most obnoxious manner possible. Believe me, he got the point.  Three years ago, we installed new entry and storm doors. I insisted on green for the storm doors. So they'd match the green steel roof I would one day have. Two years ago, we had a garage built next to our house. It was my husband's dream, and I let him pick all the details...except for the color. And yes, the roof was green steel so it would match the green steel roof I would one day have on the house as well. This spring, we had a horrendous hailstorm. It put huge divots...

My much-anticipated writing retreat didn't quite go off as planned. I lost two days helping a friend deal with a family health emergency ( NOT COVID) and then Hubby returned home early from his hunting trip. As a result, I had only one full day of blessed solitude to write. I did, however, make good use of it. I completed a very rough first draft of Fatal Reunion (Zoe Chambers #11) as well as another round of polish to the thoroughbred racetrack mystery I plan to release in May 2021.  I had one other "distraction" but it was a good one. Yesterday, I signed a three-book contract with Level Best Books to continue the Zoe series! I'm thrilled to have found a home for the Monongahela County gang. It will be a while (spring 2022) before Fatal Reunion hits the bookstore shelves, but such is the publishing business.  As for NaNoWriMo, I did not technically "win." But seeing as I managed to produce a completed manuscript, I definitely don't see it as a loss. ...

 I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Yes, it was definitely different this year, but it was still nice. There was just my husband, his mom, and me. And plenty of food.  As is the family tradition, this morning, Hubby and the Nephew headed off to hunting camp. That will be different too since there will only be three men sharing the camp.  Meanwhile, I have set aside the next few days as my own personal writing retreat. No packing, no driving. Just me, Kensi, and my computer. And a big pot of chili. Hubby dislikes the stuff, so once a year, I cook up a batch and eat it until the hunters return home.  My plan is to use the retreat template my dear friend Ramona Long used when we all gathered at the Clare House near Philly.  The Retreat House Retreat buddies, Martha Reed  and Edith Maxwell My writing space on retreat Meditation and some yoga in the morning. Coffee and breakfast. Writing. Coffee and lunch. A walk. Writing. Maybe a nap. More writing. Supper. Dur...

I tried using the blog feature on my website, but it's just not working for me. I'm still at Writers Who Kill, although only once a month now. And things are starting to happen in my world, so here I am.  At some point late in October, I decided to do NaNoWriMo AKA National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a complete 50,000-word novel in one month. It happens every November, and while I've used the group energy to boost my word counts in the past, I've never done it on an official basis before. Two incentives pushed me into it. One: I needed a distraction from the political overload steamrolling our way in November. Two: I was 35,000 words into my current manuscript and was floundering. I figured 50K more would give me a completed first draft.  As of right now, I'm at almost 42,000 NaNo words (77,000 manuscript words) and the end is in sight.  In other news... Right after signing up for NaNoWriMo, I signed with an agent! Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary i...

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...

It's been a long, busy year, so I thought I'd share some of my photo memories from 2017. The year started on a low note with the passing of my mom. After laying low over the winter, I came out from grief-induced hibernation for a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia where I had a fun book signing for No Way Home ...  ...and got another hug from my favorite TV cowboy and Emergency! doctor, Robert Fuller. It's always great to see him! Back home, we launched No Way Home officially at Mystery Lovers Bookshop . And I joined my pals Joyce Tremel and J.J. Hensley for an author panel. In April, I traveled to Bethesda, Maryland for Malice Domestic . (Yes, that's Anne Hillerman at my left! I got to sit on a panel with her! Squee!) (Agatha Award Banquet fun with my Henery Press editors and friends) May brought a cross-state road trip for my first ever visit to Philadelphia.  From the big city, I headed to the small town of New Hope for a grou...