Spring Days

Starting to feel as if we're heading into some better weather although overall we've had a rainy, cool month of May. We're all longing for a stretch of hotter weather ... not sure what this summer has in store but fingers crossed.

On the 7 Criminal Minds blog, five authors this week were tasked with recommending books for that dad or husband on your Fathers Day list. The posts are all very different, but you might find some new books and authors to check out. Five different authors will be blogging with their choices in the upcoming week, so more recommendations to come.

My week alternated between writing work and gardening. Several trips to gardening centres and then planting what I bought kept me away from my computer, but I wrote in the evenings and met my word count goals. I also had a final review of the Too Close to Home Anna Sweet novella and we finalized a cover photo. And on Wednesday, I appeared on 1310 News The Power Lunch with host Mark Sutcliffe to talk about the news of the day. They've asked me back on Thursday this week so you can share part of your lunch hour with us if you have the time.

One week to the Ottawa launch of Turning Secrets! The band is ready to go and the food is ordered. Perfect Books will be on hand with books for sale. Ive heard from lots of people that they plan to attend so we should have a good party. My daughter Lisa will be making introductions and my friend Fred Taylor is returning to take photos so I'll post some the following week. All systems ready to go.

I received several lovely emails from readers this week and reviews posted on social media. Many thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts about the series. One more to come! It's so satisfying to know that people are eager for the release of each book and connecting with my characters. I've felt the same about many series I've read over the years and know the same anticipation.

A short post this week. Time to get back into the garden before the rain moves in later today. Another changeable spring day in Ottawa.

May Goings On

The count down is on - fifteen days until the Ottawa launch of Turning Secrets! The annual party is but days away :-)

A good writing week this week as I slip back into the groove. I have to say that writing a thriller is ... wait for it ... thrilling. It's more like the Hitchcock pacing that I love. Lots of tension with the suspense building from a warm pot to a whistling tea kettle. I spent the first part of the week making chapter notes and tuning up the first chapters and am now into the second quarter. (Kind of like a basketball game - go Raptors) (That cheer's for you Robin) Anyhow, my protagonist is in all kinds of trouble and only just beginning to realize it ... how much fun am I having?!

My editor Shannon was in touch end of day yesterday with a tentative schedule for the last Stonechild book called Closing Time. We'll be working through June so another period that I'll have to set aside my latest project to focus on editing the last one. I also will be teaching a writing workshop in August and have to turn my mind to that. Finally, I'll be writing a blogpost for 7 Criminal Minds for this Monday with my book recommendations for Fathers Day. Should be a good few weeks to check in to find out what other authors recommend as well.

I'll be on 1310 News's The Power Lunch this week on Wednesday at noon if anyone is near their computer. The half hour show is also on Rogers Cable 22 and 1310 News Facebook live so I can't show up in my sweats. I try to stay up on the news especially as the date of my guest spot approaches in order to have an informed opinion. There is lots of craziness going on in the world these days I have to say.

Some of you have been asking me about the books being optioned for television and what's going on with that. I'm sad to report that the L.A. screenwriter who optioned the books for the past two years and change suffered a terrible heart attack almost two months ago and was in an induced coma for a few weeks. Happily, he's recovering and home as of a few days ago but the project is on ice. He had a producer interested before he became ill, but I'm not sure if anything will come of this moving forward.

Well, the sun is out and the garden centres are open so time to get a bit of planting done. I'm gambling on the end of the frost (after checking the long range forecast) but who really knows? I still have the snow tires on so hedging my bets ....

Last year's tulips at Dow's Lake - they're less eager to open this year and I can't blame them.

May Days

Well I'm ready for some better weather ... as are most Canadians. Although I saw a video of a man somewhere in the southern climes ring a doorbell and a snake lurched from wherever it had crawled up the door and bit him in the face, so maybe I'm okay with this northern climate after all.

I visited a morning coffee group at St. Luke's Church on Tuesday and met some lovely women. I talked about writing and my books and there were a lot of good questions about the writing business. The woman organizing the guest speakers saw my name on the poster for the library event with Barbara Fradkin and Giacomo Panico so one thing can lead to another.

I've managed to settle back into writing the latest manuscript as I await the next round of editing for Closing Time, the last Stonechild book. The stopping and starting is hard but necessary, and I know that I'm extremely fortunate to be even editing a book for publication. It's probably much the same for actors who have to promote a film they made a few years back with a new project on the go that's now their focus.

It was also my week to post on 7 Criminal Minds blog and the question concerns what I do to prevent sitting at my desk for long periods of time writing. You'll see that my problem actually goes in the other direction. Read my musings as well as those of my fellow bloggers, most of whom appear to suffer from the same restless affliction.

Turning Secrets is available now and is receiving some lovely reviews from readers and bloggers such as this one, posted this week. Only a few weeks until June 2 and the Ottawa launch at The Cross on Elgin. I'm so pleased to have The Haughian Brothers band playing, especially since the lead singer Bernie is returning from his new home in Collingwood to play. I'm really looking forward to seeing Bernie and his wife Darlene as I haven't seen them since their move last year. Perfect Books will also be at the launch with books for sale and I'll be providing some finger food so should be a good party! All are welcome so please come by if you're able.

Early May Days

So, this arrived on Monday.

New book day! Always a thrill to hold that book in my hands for the first time. The book is due on the shelves May 10 but I suspect it might already be available from the online stores. Strangely enough, Dundurn started working on the seventh this week, which is called Closing Time. It will be the last in the series. I'll be working with editor Shannon Whibbs once again (yay!) and she's started the first round of edits this weekend. I also spent three days this week working on a detailed outline of the plot for marketing.  And so it begins ...

I completed the chapter questions for Grass Roots Press early in the week and that ends my work on the Anna Sweet mystery series. I've been writing these novellas over the last eight years so it's somewhat bittersweet to have the books draw to a close. The last two will be out this fall and their titles are Killer Heat and Too Close to Home.

I'm going to speak to a ladies' morning coffee group on Tuesday morning at St. Luke's Church. I'm told to expect twenty to thirty people who are interested in hearing about my writing and books. I'll need to spend a bit of time this weekend outlining what I'm going to say. I also want to get back writing - I put my latest manuscript on hold this week while I worked on the other tasks.

Also got invited back on 1310 News and The Power Lunch and my day is May 22 from noon to 12:30 I'm beginning to think I'm a regular :-) You might have noticed if you've followed my blog for a while that I steer away from politics, religion, anything controversial ... the same goes for my social media. The Power Lunch is the one public forum where I give my opinion on the news of the day.

Well, we're finally getting a nice weekend with sun and predicted temps between seventeen and twenty degrees. Hopefully all the flood waters around the city and region will start to recede and people can soon get their lives back to normal. A lot of people have been under so much stress trying to save their homes.

Have a good week, everyone.