The Siren Call

I've been writing a lot this week. I'm always asked about my writing process and when I find the time. I'd say the past seven days are an example of how I operate when I'm in the creative mode.

Ted was away curling last weekend so I was up late Friday night working on a manuscript. I spent Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday writing. On Monday, I skipped my lunchtime yoga class to work on the manuscript, and I worked on it through four out of five lunch hours in my downtown office. Thursday and Friday nights, I worked on a blog post that I promised Linda Wiken for this Tuesday (check out Mystery Maven blog at http://mysterymavencdn.blogspot.com/). Last night, I was back to typing away at 10 p.m. on the manuscript, having gone into my office to shut off my computer when inspiration hit.

And this is how I work . . . days away from the keyboard and then weeks when I organize all my free time around getting to it.

Speaking of Linda Wiken, let me give you a little history about this most interesting woman. She is one of the original members of the Ladies' Killing Circle, a group of six or seven Ottawa mystery authors who became famous for their short story anthologies. Linda won awards for her short stories and went on to open Prime Crime bookstore with business partner Mary Jane Maffini. Mary Jane then went on to become a full-time author while Linda carried on with the store, which unfortunately closed a few years back. But with books in her bones, Linda inked a book deal with Penguin/Berkley Prime Crime in the U.S. and her first mystery entitled A Killer Read under the pseudonym Erika Chase is due out in April. I'm very much looking forward to getting a copy. You can read a snippet on her website at http://www.erikachase.com/

This is a photo taken at the closing of Prime Crime bookstore, Left to right are me, with fellow Ottawa authors C.B. Forrest, Barbara Fradkin and Linda Wiken.

I've also got my video buddy Patrick Walton working on a little piece with CBC's Alan Neal reading from In Winter's Grip back in October at 'A Day to Kill'. While some of the camera work is a bit wobbly, it's a great little memento of the day and I'll share it with you shortly. Patrick made this four-minute clip about the actual event, posted on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym0RBTOlHEU

So, I've given you a few links to help entertain you on this mid-January weekend. I'm about to climb the stairs and wake Ted up with a cup of coffee. Then, we'll see how the day unfolds but you can be sure it will include time writing - I might just open the manuscript now to have a peek . . . .