What's in the Water?

Here we are in the last Saturday in August. My writing week was cut short by a trip to Toronto to watch a Jays game (Jays beat Angels Tuesday night) and a trip to the Aquarium Thursday morning before driving back to Ottawa. The Aquarium is something to see. I was enchanted by the jellyfish.

The Dundurn crew and I picked an Aboriginal voice actress to record the audio books, beginning with Cold Mourning after listening to ten demo tapes. I will soon be speaking with her about the book and my take on the characters and hopefully I'll be at a taping in Toronto if I can swing a visit.

Other big news this upcoming week is the release of the fifth Anna Sweet novella from Grass Roots Press entitled No Trace. I've been looking back through my emails and can't find the cover pic to post, but it will be uploaded Tuesday on the Grass Roots site and then available from Amazon as an e-book by the end of the week. Here is a link to my page on the site. I will be receiving the hard copies so looking forward to holding one of the books soon!

So my travels around Ontario end for the summer but I have a few trips planned for the fall. In the meantime, I'll be getting into a writing rhythm with a new goal of 1000 words a day. I'm at 51,000 today so check in next week and see how I do :-) There's lots on the horizon on the publicity front as well - this should be a most interesting year in my writing life. I'm very happy that you are coming along with me for the ride.

Have a great week, everyone.

Hot August Nights

Another hot tamale today, hitting 39 C with the humidex.

I've had a productive week, surpassing 49,000 words but also stopping for three days to make notes on the manuscript to date and doing a light edit. A few of my plot points were contradicted later on so I had to tie things up. I also rewrote some physical description based on the field trip to Kingston last week. For instance, I had a body found near the river, which worked when you saw the location on a map, but when we walked the area, we couldn't get to the river, only to a marshy area. I've now upped my word count to 1000 a day and have been managing - although I have a few days away this week so flexibility is key (to my sanity).

I received ten demo audio tapes from Dundurn of voice actors reading a section from Cold Mourning. Several people from Dundurn and I are listening to the tapes and working to select the actress to read the books on tape for download. I've ranked them and sent in my choices so we'll see if others pick the same. I found judging some short story contests that people have varied opinions - always the case in selecting subjectively.

I was invited to another book club next month and accepted as well as receiving an invitation to the Power of Words breakfast also in September. The breakfast is to celebrate adult learners and their tutors and can be a very moving event. I'm planning to attend this year as I was a guest speaker at the breakfast a few years ago and know what great work everyone is doing.

So, this will be a short post as I throw my bathing suit in a bag and head out to a cottage for the day. It's just too hot to stay in the city.

Wherever you are, stay cool my friends.

Checking out Locations for Murder...

Another week away from home, this time picking up some Oakville friends on our way to the beautiful Niagara on the Lake for a few nights in Everheart B & B, a place I highly recommend. Ted and I spent an evening and morning in Kingston checking out the neighborhood where I'm currently setting book five in the Stonechild and Rouleau series. Does this look like a good spot for a murder?! Can you guess where it is in Kingston?

We also checked out some pubs in downtown Kingston, five in all, prompting Ted to ask if my books were in fact just a tour of Kingston bars and restaurants. Well, there is some of that, but with a little murder thrown in :-) One of the characters taking a major role in this manuscript has a favorite bar where she spends a lot of time. Here is a photo and a big high five if you can identify it.

So, I'm settled back at home and plan to finesse two scenes that I've been writing before rereading the manuscript, now at the half-way point. I'll adjust some of the settings based on our Kingston tour. Visiting the actual neighborhood locations has given me a feel for the scenes that I didn't have previously, having only found the places on Google Earth.

As I get back down to work, I'll imagine myself back in Niagara, sitting on the front veranda of the B and B with nothing but wine and sunshine ahead. I've covered a lot of the province this summer and have spent time in some beautiful places - such a spectacular summer!

Out and About in the Dog Days of Summer

I arrived back in Ottawa on Monday and the proofs for Shallow End were waiting for me in my in box. I spent the ensuing four days giving the text one last read and recording revisions in a Word document, submitting my changes to Dundurn at the end of the day yesterday. At my end, this is a wrap!

Now, I can get down to working on my latest manuscript. It's been a while and I'm eager to get back at it. Let's hope the words are backed up and ready to gush out in a steady stream of brilliance.

I took a few pictures at the Chapters Thunder Bay signing last Saturday, at which my niece Laura came along to keep my company. I met some lovely people at the store, both staff and customers and managed to sell a few books even though the Harry Potter release was at midnight. (I knew I should have called my last book Harry Patter.)

Also this week, Carol Anne Meehan interviewed me on her author Wednesday half hour on 1310 News AM radio. I phoned in from my office at home and had a good chat about my books, publishing and the mystery scene in Ottawa. As always, I omitted to name some of my fellow authors when put on the spot to name some so let me add Rick Mofina, Patricia Filteau, Alex Brett and Thomas Curran to my list - we have a terrific, vibrant crop of talent that you need to check out.

You can listen to the interview - click on August 3 between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. and my interview is at the 21 minute mark.

So, a little writing and a little travel on my agenda for this week, including a day in Kingston to check out my latest neighborhood and crime scene, which is deep in the woods. Yes, Ted is coming along and wants you to check in and make sure he makes it home by next weekend. Wa ha ha.