Back in March, I was happily munching a salad when something didn't feel right. The hard piece of something that I spit out was one of my crowns. No big deal, I thought. Call the dentist, go in, and get it glued back in place. Then I looked closer and realized the crown had taken a large portion of what was left of the tooth with it. Okay, so it WAS a big deal. There wasn't enough of the tooth left to repair, so I had to see an oral surgeon to have the root extracted. (Don't cringe. I'm not going into great deal.) Unfortunately, while I got in right away for the assessment, I couldn't have the procedure done until this past Monday. Yes, that's a long time. It wasn't that bad. The doctor was FAST. I was in and out in no time. I refused the narcotic pain meds, opting to use over-the-counter products instead. Note: I highly recommend the Tylenol/Advil combo I've been told to use on several occasions. However... While I wasn't in any real pain, I was a t...

Have you ever put off a task because you expected it to be grueling? That's basically how I approach developmental edits. I have pages and pages of notes from my editor, and I need to find a way to rip apart my book and put it back together to patch the holes she found.  Guess what? It's never as bad as I think it's going to be. The hardest part is dragging my writer's brain out of the book I'm drafting to sink it into the book that needs to be edited.  And that's where I am. I received my editorial letter early in the month. It's only a page and a half, which is virtually unheard of for me, and a good part of that is raving about the characters and twists. At the time it hit my inbox, we were recovering from a vicious windstorm and had no power. Then there was preparation for the Pennwriters Conference.  And my editor told me "no rush." Never ever tell me "no rush" because that' permission to procrastinate.  I ran out of excuses this...

 The new laptop arrived. I remember the old days when I would spend hours...days...a week...getting the new computer set up. Every program had to be installed. Every password had to be remembered, looked up, or changed (because who can remember ALL their passwords???) And that was after the original start up and hours of updates. Thanks to fiber optic internet, updates took maybe twenty minutes. Then I had to sign in to one account, using a PIN. Voila! My email and photos and virtually everything else effortlessly showed up on the new machine. Even my screensaver was transferred.  I did have to install my preferred browser since Edge isn't it. Plus Dropbox. Plus Zoom. I'm sure there will be more, but for now, it's pretty well ready to roll.  Meanwhile, the old laptop is still limping along, so I haven't sent it to the electronics graveyard just yet.

Last weekend's Pennwriters Conference went off without a hitch. Mostly. Having been a conference coordinator once a long, long time ago, I know there are lots of hitches and glitches behind the scenes. The trick is how you handle them. This year's coordinators handled them beautifully. I'd guess 99.9% of the attendees were unaware and were too busy having fun to notice. Smiling faces abounded. I had a glitch of my own to contend with. After teaching two workshops on Friday, I had one more to go on Saturday afternoon, and it was the one that totally depended on a PowerPoint slide show.  Friday night in my hotel room, I reached into my computer bag to pull out my laptop and was startled to feel how hot it was. Not scorching hot, but warmer than usual. Let me add that my beloved laptop is five years old, which seems to be their life expectancy. The battery no longer holds a charge, so I need to keep in plugged in when using it.  Anyway, I decided to err on the side of caution ...

The Pennwriters Conference begins this Friday, and I’m teaching three workshops, so right now, my focus is on making lists, packing, and preparing my classes and handouts. I may not be writing, but I’m thinking about writing a lot .   I do have more news to share. While I’ve had my doubts in recent months, it appears there will be two more Detective Honeywell Mysteries coming out this year! I have release dates and titles! But still no cover art.   The third in the series will be The Devil Comes Calling and will be released in eBook format on November 7, 2025. The fourth will be out in eBook on December 19 and is titled No Stone Left Unturned . Preorder links are starting to pop up sans the still-missing covers, but I’m not promoting them until there’s something interesting to look at. Call me superstitious. It simply never feels real until I have that cover art.   I also got my developmental edits for No Stone Left Unturned , and they don’t look too daunting. I’...

I'm home from this year's Malice Domestic where a secret I've been bursting to tell everyone was revealed.  I'm going to be next year's Malice Domestic Guest of Honor! I have known since early March, but wasn't at liberty to say anything until it was officially announced at the end of this year's Agatha Awards Banquet. This is an amazing honor. When I look back over my collection of programs from past years and see the other authors who have held this title, I'm humbled. And gobsmacked.  Adding to my excitement was learning that my good pal and fellow Agatha nominee (although she's actually brought the teapot home a few times), Ellen Byron, will be Toastmaster! It promises to be a fun weekend!  I have a lot more news coming in the next days and weeks, but this is enough for one post. 

How many times have I sworn I was going to post here more regularly? I've lost count. And yet, here we are, more than two months since I last wrote something for you.  After 16+ books, I still find myself going down the same internal dialogue rabbit hole as I hear newbie, unpublished writers doing. I don't have anything interesting to say. What could I possibly write that anyone would want to read? My life is BORING. For over ten years, I've had a new release coming out at least once a year, so there's been something to share. Cover releases, pre-order links, behind the scenes of a coming-soon novel. I recently realized, this is the longest I've gone without a new book since I started this journey. And I'm not happy about it.  In my defense, my publisher has TWO of my manuscripts and is sitting on them. Meanwhile, I'm writing every day, so it's not like I've retired.  In case you're wondering about my previous post, yes, I finished the synopsis a...

For close to 20 years, anytime I've been asked to provide advice to aspiring writers, one of my bits of wisdom has been "Finish the book." So many newbie authors get wrapped up in perfecting the first chapter. Or the first three chapters. They tweak and rewrite and fiddle and fix ... and never get beyond those opening pages. Then they get a newer, better idea and start a new project, where they work to perfect those opening pages yet again.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Which is why I strongly advise powering on and finishing the book. Honestly, those perfected first chapters will very likely end up needing drastic revisions once you get the entire story down. So, don't worry about perfection. Write the shitty first draft. Don't edit until you have a completed manuscript to work from. This has been my advice.  And now I'm defying it. I'm working on a proposal for a new book that's been inside my brain for the better part of a year. In the last few months, I...

We are solidly in the DEAD of winter. Every year, I reach a point where I proclaim (or mutter or yell, depending), "I'm sick of winter." Surprisingly, it hasn't happened yet this year. All I need to do is look at the news about what the rest of the country is going through--California is burning, snow blankets New Orleans, the southern Atlantic coast is freezing--and then I look out my frosted windows at a mere few inches of snow, which is pretty mild by Pennsylvania standards. Yes, it hit -11 yesterday morning, but I didn't have to go anywhere. Neither did my semi-retired husband. Our furnace kept the house comfy.  I have nothing worth complaining about.  Granted, that rarely stops me.  Today, I do need to set foot outside. I have kitchen scraps that need to go to the compost heap. I have a bag of trash that needs to go out to the can. I haven't made the stroll to the mailbox yet this week. But it's supposed to go "up" to 27 degrees, which will ...

There’s a lot up in the air for the coming year. I have two books (#3 and #4 in the Detective Honeywell series) coming out, but I have no titles, no covers, no release dates. I blogged last week on Writers Who Kill about how the only thing we authors have control over is writing the next book. While I will be writing #5 in the series this year, it’s not due to my editor until December, which leaves me with some wiggle room. As I teased in yesterday’s post, I have a plan. I’ve been outlining and starting to draft a standalone novel. I’m calling it a domestic suspense wrapped up in a police procedural. My intention is to have opening chapters and a synopsis ready to hand over to my agent in March, so she can start shopping it around. Then, in April, I can jump back into Matthias and Emma’s world for the rest of the year. I don’t have a lot on my “events” schedule yet. In February, I’m doing a reading with my friend Bill Gormley in Pittsburgh, but I don’t have any real details yet. In A...

For the last few years, I’ve been saying I want—no, NEED—to slow down. I’ve been pumping out books as fast as I could. Two or three a year. Now, I know writers who write even more than that, and I’m in awe. But for me, the old cliché “all work and no play” was wearing on me. Back on January 1 of 2024, I announced that I was taking measures to let me slow down. And I am. I’ve cut back on travel, although to be honest, a big part of that has to do with Kensi’s heart issues and the twice-a-day pill she gets. But the key measure I’ve taken involved turning down a three-book contract to continue the Zoe Chambers series. Okay, don’t cry or send threatening letters. I turned it down FOR NOW. I did not burn bridges. I simply need a break from multiple deadlines one after the other. Also back on January 1, 2024, I mentioned a book deal sitting on my desk. As you probably already have heard, that was another three-book offer, this one for the Detective Honeywell series. I’ve already written ...

Believe it or not, I'm still here! Hard to believe, but it's true.  First, let me catch up a little. The third Detective Honeywell Mystery that was supposed to come out at the end of this week...isn't. I don't have a new release date. Or a title. Or a cover.  Which is one reason I haven't posted here in ages. I've been anticipating having something to show for my efforts, but alas, have nothing. My publisher assures me it WILL be released but at a more opportune time than right after Christmas.  Second, I do have a freebie for my newsletter subscribers. The password to access a brand new FREE Pete and Zoe short story will go out on Christmas Eve. If you aren't a subscriber, you should sign up now by clicking here and filling out the form. And third, with all the crashing and burning of social media sites, I've decided to shift much of my attention to my blog and that newsletter. It's an early New Year's resolution. If you follow me on Facebook, I...

When last I posted, my husband's retirement was imminent. Now, we're two months in and both of us are alive and well and still like each other. All good. I took advantage of having him around by taking a trip to New Mexico in September, leaving Kensi and her pills in his (somewhat) capable hands. She wasn't happy, but he did succeed in getting the pills down her throat. Meanwhile, I had a lovely escape and a nice visit with my dear friend, Leta. It was a relatively short stay and we didn't do a lot of exploring, but we ate out several times including some of the best fish and chips I've ever had. Yes, fish and chips. In Durango, Colorado. Don't judge. I also had chile rellenos and quesadillas in Aztec, New Mexico. I just forgot to take pictures. After a month of retirement, Hubby decided to go back to work. Parttime. Now, I have the house to myself for two days each week, which is working out well.  I took two road trips earlier this month, again leaving Kensi w...

"The only constant in life is change." - Heraclitus I like to think I'm pretty flexible regarding detours and changes in life. An event gets canceled? Oh well. An appointment has to be rescheduled? Fine.  But I'm facing a BIG change within the next few days, and I confess, I'm anxious. At the end of this week, my husband will retire. We've been together for a long time. A long long time. He's gone through various employers and work schedules, but for the last decade, he's worked at the same place, steady daylight shift, Monday through Friday. He leaves at the same time every morning and is home at (mostly) the same time every afternoon. It's been easy for me to set my writing schedule around his work schedule. Kensi and I have the house to ourselves all day. We enjoy the quiet. That's about to end. Okay, Hubby and I have had a few times where we've been at home together 24/7. When he had surgery for a torn rotator cuff, he was off for SIX M...

My goal was to complete the messy first draft of Honeywell #4 over this past weekend. I kinda sorta did. But not really. There's one more scene needed to wrap it up, but as I stared at the page yesterday, that scene wouldn't reveal itself. I understand why.  This will be the scene that wraps up any loose ends, explains any pesky questions that may not have been answered fully during the action of the story, and (hopefully) sets up the next book.  The problem arises from my not knowing what I've left unexplained...and knowing that one thread needs to come out. I had good intentions for it, but it never went anywhere. So it must go.  I've decided to leave that final scene alone for now. I'm starting over. Draft 2. It will give me a chance to make notes about details I forgot about. Stuff that should go into that final scene. And I can cut anything referring to that incomplete thread.  I did much the same thing when I wrote Helpless . Only that time, I did write a fina...

I just realized I didn't further update everyone on Kensi's visit to the cardiologist. It went really well. I mean, REALLY well. Short of being told her heart had miraculously been repaired and she would live another 14 years, the news was as good as possible. She's stable. Nothing is getting worse. One of her symptoms wasn't evident at all during the echocardiogram. We're to keep on doing what we're doing. And unlike our regular vet, the cardiologist said she didn't need to lose weight, BUT she shouldn't gain any more either.  As for the gakking following the visit to the regular vet, I did my own research and learned the antibiotic shot she gets for her upper respiratory wheezing lists stomach upset and nausea as a side effect. How did I miss that the dozen or so previous times she's gotten it? The cardiologist told me to give her a quarter of a Pepcid pill for her stomach as needed. So far (knock on wood) it hasn't been. She had one hairball i...

I've had a couple of rocky weeks with Kensi. She'd been doing well as far as tummy issues were concerned. Then I took her to the vet for a checkup. She'd been sneezing and wheezing, so I knew an antibiotic shot was in order. Plus, she has an appointment with her cardiologist at the end of this month, so I wanted bloodwork done. (If they do it at the cardiologist appointment, the same test would cost twice as much). All was well except for her heart numbers, which was expected. What wasn't expected was the extreme bout of nausea and all that entails, which happened last Saturday. And again on Wednesday night. No real fainting, but one very sick and unhappy kitty. I spent a few sleepless nights, worrying over her. Then, last night, she started gobbling down her dry food (and kept it down) AND she started acting frisky again. Well, as frisky as a 14-year-old heart murmur kitty who's carrying a little extra fluff can be.  I slept well last night for the first time in a ...

Let's catch up from my last post. The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books was fabulous despite some inclement weather. My panel was indoors, and the rain didn't start until my signing beneath a tent was wrapping up. Photo courtesy of Martha Reed My "fellow thriller writer" panelists were awesome. The quotation marks are because I felt like a fraud being labeled a thriller writer, not because of the two gentlemen on the panel. They were legit. And kind. They made me feel like I belonged there.  I made it to my second appearance that day with time to spare. I did not, however, remember to take photos or ask anyone else to. The Pennwriters Conference was amazing as always. I spent some quality time with my fabulous friend, Hank Phillippi Ryan, who helped me brainstorm plot twists for a future book.  More recently, I participated in a local author book event in Waynesburg, PA, and officially launched What Comes Around at Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Next up is Noir UNDER th...

Here's a list of what's been going on. Helpless did not win the Agatha. My streak holds What Comes Around is now available in ebook and paperback. What Comes Around will be out in audiobook in July. I had a root canal, followed by a temporary crown, followed by a permanent crown. I finally got some contractual stuff settled (going back to my agent's death in November.) I've been trying to work on developmental edits for the next Honeywell mystery.  Here's a list of what's coming up. Thriller Panel at the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books, Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Cozy Panel at the Upper St. Clair Library, Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Pennwriters Conference, May 17-18  The parts I find ridiculously funny are the two panels on Saturday. First, because I'm double-booked and am praying I don't hit traffic getting from one to the other. Second, because I'm classified as a thriller author in the morning and a cozy author in the afternoon.  Those aren't t...

I've been busy. I turned in the next Detective Honeywell manuscript on March 1. Afterward, I spent most of the month taking care of boring non-writing stuff. Annual doctors' exams and tests that I'd been putting off. Tax preparation. Other necessary but uninteresting personal odds and ends. As the end of the month neared, Matthias and Emma were getting rambunctious inside my head, so I started drafting what is currently being called "Honeywell #4."  It was kind of fun having only that one book on my plate.  Of course, that didn't last long. Along came the cover art for the next Zoe Chambers mystery! I love it! Next, my developmental edits for Honeywell #3 arrived earlier this week. There aren't really a lot, but a few of them require a lot of thought. The changes will make it a much stronger book, but I'm now working on two different books at the same time. Draft Honeywell #4 in the morning, revise Honeywell #3 in the afternoon.  Oh, and my line edits ...