What Lies Ahead

Another busy week - busy in my day job, busy writing, busy getting publicity stuff in order . . . boredom is a word I seldom use.

I was invited yesterday to give a workshop at the Smiths Falls Library one Saturday in September. I'll be teaching the short story workshop that I give to kids as part of the annual Awesome Authors contest for the Ottawa Public Library. It's part of Smiths Falls' culture days so should be a fun time. It's the week after the launch of Second Chances (Sept. 22nd from 2-4 at Collected Works) (I know you already have it on your calendars:-)

I don't get to too many events as a rule. There just aren't that many hours in my week once you factor in the full time job. I also start curling in October and am on two teams again this year. Actually, when I start to think about all the things I have to do this fall, little beads of sweat break out on my forehead.

I am really looking forward to the first two weeks in October though. I'm on holiday - Katherine Hobbs, Darlene Cole and I have rented a car to drive to Cleveland (9 hours) to attend Bouchercon. I'm hoping to be on a panel but already am lined up to be part of 'Meet the Canucks' night and the organizers have asked for bio and photo for the program. If I'm lucky, I'll meet Elizabeth George in
the pub or somewhere as I'm a huge fan of her Inspector Lynley series.We're going a day early to take in the sights of Cleveland, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'll bring along my laptop and will blog at the scene. You may never have to leave the comfort of your living room again.

On my return to Ottawa, my sister and brother in law will be visiting from Thunder Bay and the following weekend, Ted and I will be going to a B & B in Kingston for a night so I can walk the streets . . .  (now that came out wrong) . . . to get the geography down for my second mystery in the adult series from Dundurn. (We'll be looking for more places to dump bodies.) The first called Cold Mourning, set in Ottawa, will be out in fall 2013.

Well, I've just exhausted myself so time to go mop my brow and have another cup of coffee. Hope everyone is having a great end of summer and enjoying the absence of oppressive heat. It's strange days when 25 degrees C feels cold.

Going for Gold

This has been a wonderful week - much needed rain and steady writing. I've set a 500-word minimum for myself each day and have managed to meet or exceed without exception. I'm like one of those long distance runners in the Olympics only with less sweat and heavy breathing.

So here is one of Ottawa's better kept secrets - the walled garden of Maplelawn. It's not too far from our house and a good place to sit and contemplate life in the middle of the city.

It's maintained by a group of volunteers 'The Friends of Maplelawn' who work away every Sunday throughout the spring and summer. Every few weeks, new perennials are in bloom. Hard to believe this little oasis is open to the public with a picnic table and benches in the shade.

The building in the background is the original residence and now a Keg restaurant - another lovely place to spend an evening although costing your wallet somewhat more than a walk around the garden.

Okay, enough of an interlude. It's time to get back at the writing and make my word quota. I have two books on the go and some accounting work to take care of today. I've set up a giveaway of Second Chances on Goodreads this morning - Dundurn will donate and mail out the book to the winners so enter if you are able:  http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/31040-second-chances Just three weeks until the book is officially available although you can preorder now . . . marketing should be another Olympic sport.

Heat, Sweat and Beers

And the summer heat is not letting up. We're hitting 40 degrees C again today with the humidex, which is way hot for this August long weekend in Canada. It's a challenge to stay hydrated, but we're giving it our best shot..

It has been a good writing week. I've set aside my manuscript for a few weeks for the sequel to Cold Mourning (1st in an adult mystery series coming out next year from Dundurn) to work on a new project for adult literacy. I'll tell you more as it unfolds, but it is quite an exciting opportunity.

We've stayed in the city this weekend. With the Olympics on, I like to be close to a television to take in the events. So much sacrifice and work on the part of each athlete from every country- they are inspiring. Their success after failure and struggle makes a few rejection letters from publishers seem inconsequential!

Rosie MacLennan just won Canada's first gold medal this morning on the trampoline and talked about her grandfather as her main inspiration. He told her to enjoy each step in the process and not to just focus on the outcome. I feel the same about writing - enjoyment should come from the writing itself - the rest will fall into place (hopefully!). The same can be said of most of life's endeavors.

Well, the posters for the Second Chances book launch arrived from Dundurn and I'll be dropping some off at Collected Works later today. I'm timing it to meet Cathy Astolfo, who is in town for a booksigning. She writes a mystery series and is also past president of Crime Writers of Canada. That's another great thing about writing - all the people you get to meet along the way.

A neighbour was asking about Ted's latest bedroom 'painting' project and where it stands now. As it so happens, Ted told me yesterday that he decided that he needed better track lighting before he could put another coat of varnish on the floor - it was just too difficult to get it right with the poor lighting. He ordered the track lighting in April  . . and it arrived this week. Yes, it really took over four months to ship from point A to point B - I'm beginning to think there's a conspiracy going on . . .

Wine Connoisseurs

Ted and I set out for VanKleek Hill Vineyard  this morning to investigate a winery with the possibility of purchasing some for the upcoming book launch. Taste-testing wine at 11:00 in the morning is a pleasant start to the day. It was also lovely to drive into the country and have breakfast in the little town - VanKleek Hill is closer to Montreal than Ottawa so it was about an hour and a half drive each way.

The vineyard has been featured on Regional Contact, which is where we heard about it. The wine is organic without additives and surprisingly hardy. The recent drought hasn't damaged the crop this year at all and the owner Marty anticipates a bumper yield.

In the end, we decided not to purchase the wine for my upcoming launch because it's not available in the LCBO or in Ottawa. I wanted  to promote a local entrepreneur, but with the trek so far to purchase any as it's only available at the vinery or a few restaurants around VanKleek Hill, it didn't seem worthwhile.  Still, it was a nice trek on a sunny Saturday and we purchased a few bottles for our troubles. You should drop in if you're out that way. Here's an article about the enterprise, which includes an address.

Other writing stuff:  I've been doing some publicity tasks for Dundurn and also booked a signing for November 10th at Books on Beechwood, another great little independent Ottawa bookstore.  I've gotten in some writing but not as much as I would have liked. I'm aiming for daily but missed one evening. Still, I've cracked the 20,000 word mark.

Alison Bruce of Crime Writers of Canada posted my blog entry on their site on Tuesday for the series on heroes and heroines. Here is the link if you missed it.

So, the day is quickly whiling away and I'm about to take my laptop out on the front deck to get in some writing. I might just have to taste test some more wine in the process. In fact, we could make it our summer mission to taste test lots of wine for the launch - maybe, off to the Niagara region next?

The Social Side of the Writing Life

Part of the fun stuff about being in the writing business is getting together with people who share the passion. Capital Crime Writers (CCW) is an Ottawa-centred group of writers and crime novel fans who meet the second Wednesday of every month (except summer) at the Library and Archives to listen to guest speakers on every subject you can imagine, from art fraud to human trafficking to the art of writing believable dialogue.

Monday after work, I met with my fellow CCW program-committee buddies Wynn Kwon and Thomas Curran at the Southern Cross restaurant on Bay Street downtown. (We've discovered that they have half-price appetizers until six every evening.) (yay) Anyhow, we came up with lots of great ideas for speakers and I was tasked with getting the first one lined up for September.

You might just want to come out for this one - Gary Holdsworth PI and lecturer and coordinator of public and private investigations at Algonquin College has agreed to come talk about the business. At $30/year to join our group, we really are the best deal in town. We also have a monthly newsletter and Christmas dinner with a well known guest speaker. Check out the site at http://capitalcrimewriters.com/

So, Darren 'Ottguy' McEwen set up and sent out a Facebook invitation  to the launch of Second Chances on September 22nd from 2:00-4:00 pm at Collected Works bookstore http://www.collected-works.com/. (Thanks Darren!) Dundurn is also making up posters and electronic invitations for me to send out and these should be available soon. Katherine Hobbs is going to be my MC and we'll have wine and refreshments. It'll just be a relaxed, mingling kind of event. Ted will even pull himself away from working on the upstairs bedroom to attend :-) and no, it's not done yet.

And the last thing I've been working on this week is helping to plan our trip to Bouchercon in Cleveland in early October. Darlene Cole, Katherine Hobbs and I are now thinking of making it a road trip and looking into renting a vehicle for the five days. Could be fun. (Ted's mentioned Thelma and Louise a few times.) Since the vehicle will be a rental, we'll steer clear of cliffs.

Writing is slowing but still going well this week. I'm soon going to go on a trip to Kingston for some research. Maybe, I should think about Paris for the next book . . . . I'm sure that would require at least a month of on-location research, probably in the springtime. Of course, I could always set something in Bermuda in the dead of winter.

Anyone up for another road trip?

Hot and Lazy

It is hot, hot hot with no relief in sight.  A drought in Eastern Ontario and across chunks of the country. My garden is surviving though - we water in the evening when the sun goes down since there are no water restrictions yet. Fingers crossed for rain next week.

I spent a few days working on guest blog requests - one for Crime Writers of Canada and their summer series on heros and heroines and what makes an interesting one - and the other for Dundurn, answering five questions about my book Second Chances. I also managed to keep my latest manuscript moving along.  I don't mind staying inside in the air conditioning during the evening and typing away at something.

One nice thing about this writing business is connecting with other authors. I got an e-mail this week from Anne Emery, a crime writer I'd heard about from the East Coast. She had questions about publicity (not that I'm an expert by any means), specifically publicists. Anyhow, we are both going to Bouchercon in Cleveland in October and hopefully we'll meet up. I'm going to pick up one of her books in the meantime - they've gotten good reviews and won a few awards. You might also want to give one a read:-)

Bouchercon is the U.S. crime writers' conference that brings together about 1500 fans and authors. I went to the one in Baltimore a few years ago and had the best time. I was on a panel but spent most of the time listening to big-name authors and even meeting some of them. I have to confess that I'd never heard of many of them, but have since bought their books and expanded my reading horizons, proving the value of these events. I'm hoping to get on a panel this time and will take part in the 'Meet the Canucks' night. I'm also excited to see Elizabeth George, one of the guests of honour - I've read every book in her Inspector Lynley series except the most recent. Should be a whole lot of fun.

Nearly lunchtime and I'm going to see if my neighbour has her pool open. It feels like a good time to have a dip before I get down to something productive. I hope you are managing to stay cool wherever you are.

Stranger Than Fiction

This guy has the right idea. Take all your clothes off and sit in a fountain because it sure is hot in the Ottawa Valley, across Southern Ontario and the Eastern seaboard. Every morning I think, how few clothes can I get away with this work day? So far, nobody has picked me up for indecency so I haven't crossed any lines . . . yet.

The hot weather has me writing up a storm. It has been a very productive week and I'm pumped. Part of the fun of writing is creating a world populated by interesting people, some you might like to get to know and others, well . . .  I am writing murder mysteries. Some of the characters are on the shady side and others are just plain killers.

In this particular manuscript, the murder has me a little spooked - for real. I actually woke Ted up screaming in terror around three a.m. In my dream, a man was trying to drag me out of bed.  Hmmm.  Some might consider that a good thing, but I can assure you, it wasn't in this case.

Ted had been away for a few days last week and returned home on Thursday evening. I hadn't quite adjusted to him being back so when he came up to bed around midnight, I half-woke up from a deep sleep, thinking I should be alone in the house. For a few moments, panic took over as I got ready to do battle with an intruder. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked. Ted had to remind me that he lived here. He said later that he was very glad we don't own a gun.

So, I'm going to blame all this on the heat and will continue on with my latest storyline.

(Ted is hoping I write a romance novel next.)