Inspirations for the Next Manuscript

            I can’t avoid considering new ideas for mysteries and romantic suspense. I’m always plotting, in my head if not otherwise. Using things I see or hear, or wish I did, as  inspirations.

But at the moment I’m holding off a bit on plotting, and am re-reading the first two books in my upcoming Harlequin Romantic Suspense K-9 Crime Solvers series, since I’ll soon have to start working on the third one—and it’ll help if I recall as much about the first two that I can. Besides, that’s a good excuse for reading more than writing—although the cast is off my wrist and I’m able to type a bit more on the computer. Still a bit painful, though.   

Time is marching on though, as usual. It’ll be February soon. Valentine’s Day is approaching! And I do tend to have romances in my stories.

Hmmm. Another inspiration. And then there are my pups lying beside me, also being inspirational.

Dancing Around Each Other

 I sent off the list of corrections for SCONED TO DEATH.  This time it was really good bye to the manuscript.  The next time I see it will be when I get my author copies.  It's already up on Amazon for pre-sale.

The trade paperback of DEATH AMONG THE STITCHES comes out  January 27.  It feels like my books are doing a do-si-do.  That's the square dance move where you pass around each other.  The Yarn Retreat book is in there too since as soon as I hit send on the corrections, I went back to working on it.  I thought I had the title down, but once I included the potholder making, I thought about putting LOOMING in the title.  My editor suggested  something like DANGER IS LOOMING.  I thought about LOOMING DEATH.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

After all the rain we got, the weather has turned warm and sunny.  The only reminder of the time of year is the low angle of the sun and the still short days.  It was heavenly to take my coffee outside this morning and feel the warmth of the sun.

It is nice to wear lighter clothes, but before I think about it being a forever change, I remind myself that it's still winter even if the daffodils have already sent up their green shoots with the promise of flowers to follow. 

Keep On Keeping On

           Yes, I’m still plotting but not doing a lot of writing, at least partially due to how my broken wrist tells me it isn’t time to feel all better yet. But I am running my new mystery idea by some other people now and getting their input. So far, it sounds as if I should keep on going with it!

            And I’m almost ready to start writing my next Harlequin Romantic Suspense book.

            In case I haven’t made it clear enough, I’m enjoying the New Year—sort of. But I expect it’ll keep on getting better and better. Or at least that’s what my pups tell me, especially Roxie, who literally tells me what’s going on and what she wants. Or at least she communicates well with me, with soft sounds and body language.

            And thanks to the special representations of Roxie and Cari on that special cap I bought for my husband Fred, I bought a coffee cup with similar representations on it—including both pups and me!

Switching Stories

 I expected things would stay quiet for all of last week since New Years Day fell on a Thursday.  But on Friday, I got the first proof pages of SCONED TO DEATH.  It's came as  a PDF file of the typeset version of the manuscript.  It's my last chance to look at the manuscript and it's mostly for typos, or small changes.  I thought I could manage to continue working on the next  Yarn Retreat book which now has Looming in the title, but after a couple of days of trying it, I realized it was better to concentrate on SCONED TO DEATH.

The only carry over from working on the Yarn Retreat book is that I have continuted making the potholders.  It is so much better to write about something if you have actual experience.  I finished the large size one and then went back to the smaller loom.  It seemed so quick and easy after using the large loom.  I also noticed that as I keep making the potholders, it's gets easier.  It also gets faster and it's very satisfying to be able to finish something in one sitting.  It's workout for my fingers, but they seem to benefit by experience too.  Working on them has reignited my pleasure in making things.

I am half way done going through SCONED TO DEATH.  In the old days, the publisher sent me a hard copy of the proof pages and I had to write in the corrections and hope it was clear.  Now, it's all a computer file and there seems to way I can note the corrections on it, I still resort to typing up a list of corrections. First I type in the way it appears on the proof pages and then I type in the way it should be.

And then it is the final good bye and the next time I see it will be as an actual book.

And then it's back to Casey and her crew as they close in on the killer..