Summer is Here

 It looks like summer is here, though you couldn't tell by the weather.  The mornings are gray and cool.  It heats up to moderate in the afternoon and then is sweater weather by night time.

Today is Jakey's last day of school and then it's vacation.  The whole time sequence around here will change.  There are plans for day trips and and an overnight one up to Monterey.  It will be a chance to refresh my memory of the area as I  write the next Casey book.

Every summer is different as he becomes more of who he is.  I enjoy watching him experience the world.  I am continually stunned by how different things are for him compared when I was his age.  Both my parents worked and I had to get myself off to school.  I walked to and from and came home for lunch which it was up to me to make. There were special concerts for young people put on at  Orchestra Hall in downtown Chicago.  We were allowed to leave school early and on our own take the train to and from downtown.  That required carrying money and buying a train ticket, along with walking around downtown.   Jakey can't even walk out of his classroom unless an approved person comes to pick him up.  

I am ready to switch gears with SCONED TO DEATH.  I finished the draft of the manuscript and now will begin rewriting.  Characters and situations changed during the writing and I have to make sure it all makes sense. It always surprises me when  things I hadn't thought of pop out as I'm writing.  It's as if they were there all along, but I just didn't see them.  

 With all the mentions of scone making, I'm going to make a batch to experience it first hand.  I'm sure Jakey will be glad to help with the tasting.

Strange Times

          When I was a practicing lawyer, I worked in downtown L.A. I also wrote then, and that included contracts as well as novels. I sometimes miss what I used to do. My job in downtown wasn’t exactly where the riots have been going on, but too close, so I’m sure I wouldn’t have been in my office recently if I still was working down there.

            It all would be an interesting background for a new story, but I think I’ll pass on that.

            And one of the many good things about living in L.A. is being near the Hollywood Bowl. I attended its opening night for this summer last weekend, and got to see Hugh Jackman’s incredible performance! I’d seen him live before a couple of times and knew what a good entertainer he is, and this show was particularly enjoyable.

            Meanwhile, I’m still working on the second story in my new, upcoming Harlequin Romantic Suspense miniseries about K-9s and PIs. And yes, where it works out, I’m continuing to let the world know about my prior series, the Shelter of Secrets, whose last story, CANINE REFUGE, was published in April.

            Some health issues returned with my older pup Cari, but we’re taking good care of her. So is Roxie, although the pup’s energetic determination to play isn’t exactly the best thing to keep Cari quiet to heal. But fortunately her issues come and go—and they aren’t around today!

Two Black Moments

 I had two major writing horror moments over the last week.  The first was when I realized that that a major plot issue in SCONED TO DEATH didn't work.  After many moments of panic, the answer presented itself. Except it meant going back to the beginning to change things.  Then I was caught between going back and fixing everything or continuing to go forward with writing the rest according to the changes and leaving changing everything up until now in the rewrite.  I finally compromised and  left bread crumbs with notes how to change things from the beginning to where I am.

The second horror moment happened when this black slithery bug fell off my computer desk onto my wireless keyboard.  My computer desk probably qualities as an antique.  I got it when I got my first computer in the 80s.  It has two pieces. One piece has a spot for a screen when they were small and  gray and sat on a computer that had a floppy disk drive and operated on DOS.  A pull out shelf was for the keyboard.  The second piece was for a printer.  A dot matrix printer that had a continuous roll of paper came up through a a slot.

Now the screen takes up most of the main piece.  The computer tower is over the slot where the paper used to go.  The printer is in another room.   

The black squiggly thing probably could have cared less about how old the surface is that it was on.  It came out from underneath my mouse pad and dropped onto the keyboard and disappeared into the blackness.

I admit my reason for wanting to get the bug somewhere that I could see it was so I could squish it.  I have kind of a rule.  I leave bugs on the outside alone, but if they're inside, I want them gone.  Though I do often rescue spiders and take them outside.  It's all because of reading Charlotte's Web and a Zoology class I took in college that gave me a whole new respect for them.

But I wanted this bug gone.  So I picked up the wireless keyboard and turned it over so the bug would fall on the lighter colored desk.  It fell and then I couldn't find it.  I pushed the shelf under the top part of the desk, forgetting that I had a coffee cup sitting on it.  The cup fell and landed upside down.  

By the time I had moved the cup and put down paper towels to blot up the coffee, the bug was long gone.  It was then that I looked up at the screen.  Instead of a page full of words I had just typed, there was just white screen.  I went backwards and forwards in the document and there was still just white screen.

Had I just lost my whole manuscript?

I started to freak and then got myself to to stop for a moment.  When I looked at the tool bar on the bottom of the page found that I had somehow added hundreds of blank pages to the document.  I guess it was all that shaking of the keyboard. I made sure all the stuff I had written was still there.   It took some doing, but I figured out how to get rid of all the blank pages.  

The squiggly thing is still on the loose somewhere.  It looks kind of like a black version of a silverfish and I just read they can live for eight years.  So maybe we will meet again. 

June Is Busting Out All Over!

           Happy June, everyone!

            I’m still working away on the second story in my new, upcoming Harlequin Romantic Suspense miniseries about K-9s and PIs. And continuing to let the world know about my prior series, the Shelter of Secrets, whose last story, CANINE REFUGE, was published in April.

            What’s new is that I’m also putting together short blurbs about quite a few of my older books so my stories can be promoted to a company that publishes serialized reading stories that include images along with portions of the text. Do I completely understand it? No, but it sounds interesting, and so I’m happy that my agent and her staff are working on selling some of my stories there. We’ll see!

            Meanwhile, the weather is staying a bit odd here in L.A.—coolish, overcast mornings that become warm midday, then cool off again in the evenings. Nothing terrible, but it’s best to continue to walk the dogs early!

            And fortunately both seem to be doing well after their prior health issues.