Summer in the City

Good morning everyone. Mid-July already! The best time of year for fresh produce - I think I've eaten four pounds of cherries alone.

Bleeding Darkness has been on the shelves for two months now and I've been working with Dundurn on the next book - Turning Secrets, which is due for release in May 2019. This week, designer Laura Boyle sent along a preliminary version of the cover and she nicely captured the major theme. I also spent a morning tightening up the cover text which I'd written a while back. Dundurn needs this now to start publicizing in catalogues. I'll share the cover once I have the final.

Meanwhile, I continue writing the latest manuscript and am in the dreaded middle. This is the point in every manuscript where I question the plot, the writing and my ability to pull this off. I'm comforted that other authors all report this same self-doubt mid-way through their manuscripts. The remedy is to ignore the negative thoughts and to keep writing. This seventh book in the series is the last so I'm tying up ongoing plot lines and this makes the writing even more challenging. I'm aiming to hit 50,000 words by the end of July and have 3000 words to go so I should reach the target without problem.

I was invited back to Radio 1310 News and the Power Lunch with Mark Sutcliffe on Monday. I enjoy speaking about topics in the news, not normally voicing my opinions except to Ted :-) You can watch the half hour show, which was broadcast simultaneously on 1310 Facebook Live and Rogers Cable 22.

Our street work continues, making concentration a challenge. They dug up our lawn to lay new pipe so I was typing while they excavated and pounded and beeped a few feet away. The noise and shaking starts at 7 a.m. on the dot and stops at 5 or 6 p.m. I've surprisingly managed to ignore most of the noise except when the entire house shakes and the pounding feels like it's going right through one's body. The dust is incredible - our cars are coated in it every day and it sifts into the house. I have a dust allergy so my sneeze count is up. Anyhow, we need the new sewers so this is small pain for big gain and I applaud the guys who spend the long, hot days doing this dusty, dirty, unpleasant, nasty work.

So, time for that last cup of coffee before I get the day underway. I have a little bike ride and writing on my agenda capped off by a BBQ and glass of wine.

Ahh summer ....