Signing at Chapters Gloucester Today

I'll be at Chapters Gloucester this afternoon from 1:00 until 4:00 o'clock - a good place to drop by and chat on this cold, wet Saturday. Maybe even get a jump on some Christmas shopping with some personalized books. (This is the last book store signing that I have lined up for this year.)

Here's a photo taken by mystery reader and great supporter of the local crime-writing community, Nancy Reid, from my May visit to Chapters Gloucester.

I'm going to Toronto next weekend to meet Michelle St John, the actress reading Cold Mourning and Butterfly Kills for the audio books. I'll sit in on a taping so excited for that. I'll also be meeting up with my publicist Michelle Meleski and we plan to visit Sleuth on Baker Street, a well known mystery bookshop in the city. Should be a fun trip.

Writing went well this week and I'm beginning the last scene in the last chapter! I'm just over 84,000 words now and was aiming for 85,000 on this draft since I always add more on rewrites. Stephen King wrote that he writes quite a bit over his book word count and then cuts but I tend to do the opposite. Anyhow, once that is done, I'll be rereading, editing, rewriting...the work is far from over, but I have three months to whip this manuscript into shape. My next project will be writing book six in the Anna Sweet novellas, which will give me the chance to change gears for a few months.

Today reminds me that winter will soon be swooping into the Ottawa Valley and I have to finish cleaning out my garden, empty flower pots and put away patio furniture. This will be the first winter that I don't have to get up early and stand at the bus stop in the dark to head downtown to my government job so I'm happy for this change in routine.  When the snowstorms are raging, I'll be tucked in my home office with a cup of coffee, gas fireplace on and writing away at my computer. Luxury.

I like to be reading a book off and on between periods of writing and this week, I've been making my way through Stalin's Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan. Just over 600 pages, this book has won all kinds of awards and really is a fascinating read about Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's only daughter. I studied Russian history in university and reading this book has brought back my studies from that time. Living under a  Communist regime also ties in with the novel I'm writing now, which touches on the Ceausescu period in Romania. Sullivan's book humanizes the life of a woman who grew up in a system so foreign to our own and brings her history to life.

So, time to get a few tasks accomplished before I head out on the Queensway to the east end. Plan to come by Chapters for a visit if you're in the area!