Regrouping

Did you hear my champagne cork pop this past Tuesday? I finished my novella manuscript and sent it off to the publisher Grass Roots Press. I now await their feedback. Such a lovely feeling when you think this is enough tinkering and send the book on its way. This one is tentatively called Close to Home. I like this story and how the series ends and am hopeful that it will be well received. I've now got the last two books done and they'll be published together in the fall. Grass Roots plans a marketing promotion for the new books and the entire series.

Not much else new this week to report. I've been taking it easy since Tuesday. Regrouping. I have made notes about my next project and mulling ideas over in my mind. I even began an opening chapter last night but only to set up the story. It's hard to stay away from the keyboard :-)

It was my Monday to post on 7 Criminal Minds blogspot and the topic concerned the sacrifices we make for our writing. You can read my thoughts on the subject here. This week, we have a new blogger named Abir Mukherjee who posted on Friday. Abir lives in Great Britain so very cool to have him join the blogging team from the U.S. and Canada. His books sound interesting too so check out his post and you'll have a new author to put on your reading list!

So, my Ottawa friends are probably surprised I didn't lead with the weather update since we just lived through snowmageddon - about 30 cm of snow in one day that shut down the city on Wednesday. Strong winds and frigid temperatures added to the misery. We were worried about a power outage and so prepared as best we could. Happily, that didn't happen. You can live without lights but no heat would have been a problem. Well, a better week coming up if predictions hold true. Even a few days of sunshine which will be a change.

The Scotties round robin starts today with Lisa and Team Homan's first game on TSN today at 1:30 EST. This is a great week to have my writing hiatus as I'll be plunked in front of the television for the weekend.

Good week ahead, everyone!

Ramping Up

One week ago, we were in Elmira, Ontario waiting for the provincial ladies curling final. My daughter's team Homan ended up victorious and will represent the southern half of the province at the nationals in Sydney, Nova Scotia in a few weeks. Such an exciting finish to the week!

I managed to settle back into my writing rhythm and have about a thousand words left to write on draft one of the Anna Sweet novella. Well, draft one anyway. I'll then spend a few weeks editing before I submit it to Grass Roots Press for their review. After that, I have to write the questions that accompany the last two books for teaching purposes. So no holiday yet.

For those of you following the optioning of my Stonechild and Rouleau series for television, the option ended at the end of January but it has been renewed for another couple of months. I'm finding that this is a slow process with no guarantees, but the possibility keeps life interesting.

On the publicity front, I'm thrilled to tell you that CBC Radio's Giacomo Panico will be interviewing Barbara Fradkin and me at the Carlingwood branch of the Ottawa Public Library on Thursday, April 25 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. We're all from Kitchissippi and Barb and I have both set some of our books  in and around Ottawa. You won't need to sign up but mark the date and time in your calendars and plan to drop by. We'll talk about writing crime fiction and our books and the local hook. Giacomo is the host of In Town and Out as well as a reporter so I'm excited to have him on board for the event.

And for those of you who haven't heard about my upcoming book launch for Turning Secrets, mark the date! Sunday, June  2 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at The Cross on Elgin. It'll be a party with musical guests The Haughian Brothers Band providing the entertainment. Perfect Books will be on hand with books for purchase and there will be food.

So this weekend, I'll be writing a blog post for 7 Criminal Minds that you'll be able to read on Monday. I'm also planning to finish that manuscript - good to have goals :-) It'll be nice to get the manuscript in the done column before spring weather arrives. Before the Scotties week starts.

The busy February continues.

Happy Valentine's Day :-) xo

Into February

We didn't think Ottawa was cold enough and so drove through a snowstorm on the 401 to St. Jacobs (north of Waterloo) where it was cold enough to hurt. We came to watch our daughter Lisa curl in the Ontario provincials, which means most of the days and evenings in a cold arena. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to go south in January ...

Spring in coming soon enough and plans are afoot for the Left Coast Crime conference in Vancouver in March. I've been assigned a panel but they won't be announced for a few weeks so mum's the word. I have to send in a little bio and pic for the program booklet and will get that done this week. It's coming up quickly.

The book festival Women Killing It announced some of the guest authors this week, including Joy Fielding, Iona Whishaw and me :-). The event takes place during the Labour Day weekend in Picton, Prince Edward County. This is its third year running and I hear is a great time. I'm excited to be taking part. There will be more author-guest announcements in the upcoming days.

Also this week, Donna Carrick interviewed me by phone for her Dead to Writes podcast and you can listen to it here. The interview is the January 27th date - S2 ES4.

I'm going to be back on 1310 News Radio's The Power Lunch at noon this Wednesday with host Mark Sutcliffe. It's a half hour show where two guests discuss the news of the day with Mark. You never know until the day what news will be topping the headlines. You can catch the show on Rogers Cable 22 and 1310 News Facebook live.

I managed to stay on track with my writing schedule but have taken a few days off with this bit of travel. I'll be back at it Monday and have zeroed in on 10,000 words so am getting there slowly but surely.

Another busy week already underway!