Holiday Over!

The past two months have gone incredibly fast. As promised I'm back to blogging Saturday mornings after a busy summer, work-wise, and a pretty lazy few months otherwise.

Since I last wrote, I've been through next year's manuscript Closing Time two (or was it three) more times and sent in my last changes to the proofs yesterday. As true to form, I'm not as fond of the story as I was at the start of the process because I've lost perspective looking at it so often. However, I liked it well enough before the fifth and sixth edits so I'll hang onto this memory and believe the book is a fitting conclusion to the series. I've also been sent some publicity requests that involved writing a cover letter to reviewers, writing the cover synopsis and submitting a full chapter breakdown for those doing the marketing. Now I have to turn my attention to the publicity and media questionnaire and chart and a blog post for Dundurn. Lots of fun to come :-)

Release date: May 2020

This week also saw the release of the last two Anna Sweet novellas for Grassroots Press called Killer Heat and Too Close to Home. These are terrific little reads written for adult literacy but also good for those wanting a quick read. The challenge was writing a book any adult would enjoy but at a simpler reading level. The series is available in soft cover from the publisher's site or as downloads from Amazon.

 I took part in a few events this summer. A couple of bookstore signings ...

With R.J. Harlick at Chapters Kanata in July

... and The Women Killing It book festival in Picton Labour Day weekend. The festival included seven other Canadian women crime fiction authors: Joy Fielding, Vicki Delany, Hannah Mary McKinnon, Ginger Bolton, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Iona Whishaw and S.M. Hurley. You can read about the event in this article. One highlight was the panel at the Glenwood Cemetery chapel on Saturday evening with Ausma, Hannah and Joy. A spooky setting to discuss crime fiction. The next morning, I taught a workshop on point of view before catching my (very delayed) train home.

 Joy Fielding and me

Back row l to r: Janet Kellough, Vicki Delany, Ginger Bolton, Iona Whishaw, S.M. Hurley

Front row l to r: Ausma Zehanat Khan, Joy Fielding, me, Hannah Mary McKinnon

I've also been plugging away at my latest manuscript, which so far has the generic title Thriller. I'm about 60,000 words in and starting to get to the heart of the mystery. It's been a departure from the other two series that I've been writing over the past six years, but refreshing to tackle a new challenge.

So, no real travel this summer but lots of work in my garden, many evenings drinking wine on the veranda with the neighbours and lots of family time. I hope you enjoyed the oh-too-brief-summer and your tan will take you into the dark days of November. We still have a lovely autumn to look forward to so no need to light the fires yet.