Writing and Promotion!

             April is approaching fast—and that means the publication date for CANINE REFUGE, the fifth and final story in my Shelter of Secrets series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, will be here soon. I’m delighted! I really enjoy that series and look forward to the newest and last to be available to readers.

            In fact, I’ve been working on ideas to let the world know about this newest story, from more blogs to newsletters and maybe even chats. Plus more talks. And my new bookmarks are in the works too.

            But yes, I continue to work on the second story in my latest Harlequin Romantic Suspense series, plus researching and more. I’ve also been asked to participate in a Sisters in Crime panel in September for mystery and suspense writers who include animals in them—definitely fits me! And my talk to the Union Oil Alumni Association is next week.

            Still working on new ideas too—as always. And playing with my pups. Yes, I do manage to keep busy! And I’m happy to say that we’ve been getting more rain lately in dry LA.

The Case of the Unfinished Kitten

 It's National Crochet Month.  I'm not sure how to celebrate.  Maybe by finishing that kitten I started.  I have a lot going on, so it's been hard for me to focus on just finishing the kitten.

There are different level of crochet, for me at least.  Working on a scarf or big granny square afghan doesn't take a lot of concentration.  It's repetitious and there is not much stitch counting.  And there's no face to get right.  The scarf or afghan are easy to work on for awhile and put down.

I have discovered that making amirgurumi which is what the little toys are called needs to be worked on differently.  It would probably be best to make the whole thing in one sitting, but at the very least, I find that I need to complete whatever body part I'm making.  I keep track of where I am by making a list of the rows and checking them off as I go, but I still find it hard to pick up where I left off if I stopped in the middle of something like the kitten's leg or the body.  

I keep telling myself that the toys are more of a creative expression than following the pattern so exactly.   I need to lose myself in making it--which doesn't work well with interruptions.  

I find that mornings are my most creative times and probably the best time to work on that kind of crochet, but it is also my best writing time.  By evening, I don't want to deal with the tension and excitement that goes with working on a toy.  I don't get into the flow as easily.

Well, it's only the first week of March and it gives me another three weeks or so to figure this out.

Happy March!

            Yes, the third month of the year has started. Boy, does time pass fast these days!

            But nothing much different to report now. I’m working on the second story in my latest Harlequin Romantic Suspense series, plus researching and more. Plus, I’m giving a talk later this month at the Union Oil Company Alumni meeting. I was an in-house real estate attorney for Unocal, but the company is long gone now. Some of the old timers still get together now and then. I’ll be talking about writing, along with another alumna who’s moved away but will participate on Zoom.

            And yes, I’m back from our trip visiting family in Indiana. Great to see them, including our grandsons. But it’s always wonderful to be greeted by our pups.

            And to get back to serious writing!

Words

 And another month bites the dust.  It's been warm here which made it hard to remember what month it was anyway.  But it's turned cloudy and instead of the 80s we've been having, it's going back to a high in the 60s tomorrow.  I hope the weather change brings some rain.  We really need it.

Words are kind of my business.  Well, with some yarn thrown in.  I always looked at crossword puzzles as something I couldn't do.  I never even tried them since it seemed beyond me.  But then I had a People Magazine on a plane and got to the crossword puzzle at the back of the magazine and started to play around with it.  Wonder of wonders, I actually did the whole thing.  It started something that has continued on.  I admit to sticking to mostly easy ones, but now I do the crossword in the AAA magazine and the AARP magazine.  I subscribed to People just to get the crosswords.

Doing them has made me more aware of words and looking t them differently.  It was as if I was seeing them in a new way.  Take longing.  the basic word is long, but that has nothing to do with the word when the  ing is added.  I started thinking how hard it must be for people learning English to understand all the weird things about our language.  Like read.  Same spelling if it's the present or the past meaning.  

Doing the crosswords has made me more aware of meanings and subtle differences between words. 

I recently expanded to an actual book of crossword puzzles.  It feels like exercise for my brain when I'm waiting somewhere.

Someday I may work my way up to the New York Times one that appear in the print newspaper I get from my Chicago neighborhood.  It's always good to keep stretching your mental horizons.