Summer Underway

Good news to report this week. Dundurn had a look at the first chapters and synopsis for the manuscript that I am working on now, the third in the Stonechild and Rouleau series, and gave it the thumbs up. I also completed the first draft last evening. Now, I have to give the entire thing a read through to fix up some of the details. The ending took a slightly different twist than what I'd planned. This turned out to be a tough plot to pull together.

I also  managed to complete some questions for the third Anna Sweet mystery and submitted them to the Grass Roots Press publisher. She tells me that To Keep A Secret is at the printer's - due out in September. My next project is to write the fourth book in the series, due in September.

Luckily, I am now on three weeks holiday from work.

yay.

And this will be an exciting week culminating in our daughter Lisa's wedding next Saturday. I might have a picture or two for next week's blog, or maybe the week after. I guess I'll be a bit busy next Saturday. We have lots of celebrating to do.

One last bit of writing news on my projects - the Butterfly Kills advance reading copy is being finalized and the manuscript was posted on NetGalley. Professional readers who write advance reviews can upload it. You might have noticed that Cold Mourning was issued in six parts before it came out as a complete book. This was an experiment from the publisher and  based on feedback, won't be done for the rest of my books. I personally didn't like the format, but can appreciate trying to be innovative in marketing. I think like the majority of readers, I'd rather get the entire book at one go.

We had sad news in the mystry writing community yesterday. One of my fellow Dundurn and Orca authors Lou Allin died of pancreatic cancer. I met Lou at an Arthur Ellis dinner in Toronto several years ago and we'd meet up at different conferences over the years. She was a friendly, warm person, always with a wide smile. I was very lucky to be on a panel with Lou at Bloody Words last month - she'd made the trek from B.C. even though she was very ill. I know everyone recognized the strength this took. She will be greatly missed.

(L to r) Caro Soles, Mary Jane Maffini, me, Lou Allin and Kate Jaimet
Bloody Words, June 2014

So, first day of vacation and it's a beautiful morning. Time for another cup of coffee, then a bike ride and swim. I'll settle into the manuscript re-read this afternoon but anticipate this taking a few days. Maybe, I'll have to bring my laptop outside and find a sunny spot to put my feet up. Luckily, I have a new deck in the backyard that should do the trick.