Picking up the Pace

Anyone following my blog knows that my daughter Lisa Weagle is curling with Rachel Homan, Emma Miskew and Ali Kreviazuk in the Scott Tournament of Hearts in Montreal. Some of our neighbours came over last night to watch the one/two game against Team Carey, who represents Manitoba. What a hard fought, nail-biter game. Both teams curled unbelievably well, but when it came down to last rock, the Homan team perservered. Rachel made a brilliant draw to force Carey into a tough shot. All orchastrated by two brilliant tick shots by Lisa Weagle to keep the scoring centre open - in the curling world, Lisa's become rather famous for perfecting these shots, now called 'the Weagle'. I'm sure they could hear us cheering for Lisa and the entire Homan team in Montreal.

So, back to my writing world today - a small respite before the final tomorrow night, which will be shown on TSN. It promises to be a fabulous game if you can be there in person (like us) or watch the excellent coverage on TV. It's going to be hard to get my mind off curling, as you can imagine:-)

Anyhow, the section of the manuscript that I'm working on lately has my cops visiting Montreal and has grown to a couple of chapters; however, today, they will be heading back to Kingston. I've been planting clues and setting the stage for the next chapters, which have formed vaguely in my plotting brain. I'm excited to get this storyline moving along, now at just over 33,000 words. I heard from my editor and she suggests aiming for June to submit this manuscript, so I have to pick up my pace.

You can help me out by making Cold Mourning a bestseller so that I can quit my day job. Wouldn't that be a luxury to have all day to write?

Three weeks to Cold Mourning's wide release. I understand that the book is shipped to stores three weeks ahead . . . which would be today! The publicity is also beginning for the 2nd in the series called Butterfly Kills. I came up with this title and wasn't sure if we were going with it, but since I see it's on Goodreads, I guess we are. Here is the cover synopsis:

Butterfly Kills: A Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery

byBrenda Chapman (Goodreads Author)

Butterfly Kills: A Stonechild and Rouleau My

 

Jacques Rouleau has moved to Kingston to look after his father and take up the position as the head of the Major Crimes department. He's been trying to track down Kala Stonechild, who quit the Ottawa force and has been in the bush. One hot week in August, university student Leah Sampson is murdered in her apartment; in another corner of the city, Della Munroe is raped by h...morJacques Rouleau has moved to Kingston to look after his father and take up the position as the head of the Major Crimes department. He's been trying to track down Kala Stonechild, who quit the Ottawa force and has been in the bush. One hot week in August, university student Leah Sampson is murdered in her apartment; in another corner of the city, Della Munroe is raped by her husband. At first, the crimes appear unrelated, but as Sergeant Jacques Rouleau and his new team of officers dig into the women's pasts, they discover unsettling coincidences. When Stonechild suddenly appears in Kingston, Rouleau enlists her to help. As the detectives delve deeper into the cases, it seems more questions pop up than answers. Both women were hiding secrets that have unleashed a string of violence. Can Stonechild and Rouleau discover the truth before the violence rips two families apart?

I'm pretty fond of this book too. It was a complicated plot to handle, but came together as I had hoped. My former editor Allister Thompson gave the manuscript a read early on and said he wondered as he was reading it how I was going to pull the plotlines together. He said when he finished, it all worked and he had no suggestions for improvement. Sort of a Weagle moment.

I'll be sending out more Cold Mourning launch invitations this weekend between writing and curling watching. Lots of people tell me they'll be coming by to raise a glass at Whispers on March 9 - I hope you can be one of them :-)