And More September

Hey, I mentioned last week that it’s now September. The year is speeding toward its end.

And that means that my next book will soon be published-- a December release!

It’s K-9 Evidence, the first in my new K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. It’s got—big surprise!—K-9s in it, as well as humans who are, or become, private investigators.

Yes, I’m once again writing about dogs. I really enjoy that! I’ve mentioned here my fun and issues about the next two books in that series—still working on them.

Will I ever write books without dogs in them? I’ve been told to consider the possibility, and so I am. But I’d just as soon include animals as well as people, so if not dogs, perhaps some other pets. Or… Well, I’m fascinated by wildlife. I love to see what’s visiting my yard—such as the beautiful, red-breasted hawk who sat on a pole for a while a couple of weeks ago, as well as squirrels, and the hummingbirds who visit our feeders-- and in the park where I exercise, and more, including wild animal parks—as well as animals seen on the safaris I was on a few years ago in Africa.

More about wildlife to come? I won’t be surprised.

Escape

 At last the weather cooled and the ants mostly went back outside.  I still find stray ones walking one me, but the war is over.  It feels like fall and any minute all the pumpkin spice everything will start to show up.  I reluctantly set the next Molly book aside and started on the third Crochet and Crumpet book.  It takes place around Halloween and its fun to write about fall in the Midwest, particularly through the eyes of someone who has never experienced  it before.

I am rounding up all the regular characters and figuring out what they have going on.  And there is a murder to set up and solve.

Between the threats of a hurricane affecting my area, threats of El Nino causing havoc and everything else going on in the world, I think we all need a little mental escape.  Writing the books offers it to me and I hope reading them offers it to readers.  

What ever happened to a day with good news? 

It's September

I’ve always been fond of September, maybe because it started to cool off after summer when I was growing up in Pittsburgh. 

And then there are The Fantasticks! What’s that? A wonderful musical I became familiar with when I was a teenager and fascinated by the theater. Oh, I never had a good singing voice, but I did become a script girl when my high school prepared for performances of The Fantasticks by our actors and singers. 

Why September? Well, one of the primary songs is Try To Remember, and it begins: “Try to remember the kind of September When life was slow and oh, so mellow.” Yes, September. 

I don’t think I’ll ever write a play, let alone a musical, but I can continue to revere those who do—and remember the wonderful songs.

War

After a mostly moderate summer, the weather has gone to hell.  Really hotter than hell.  Having temperatures around 100 is not that strange.  It's the humidity that is unusual and means that's it doesn't cool off much at night. 

There is something else that is making things extra difficult.   Whenever it gets really hot, tons of ants come inside. The humidity seems to have made them even more fierce.  Bad enough that they swarm any crumbs they find, but I keep find them walking on my arms.  I see them and I feel them as the little buggars bite and it stings.  Luckily, from what I read, these ants don't deposit anything when they clamp their jaws on me.  

It's war with keeping them at bay.  I have a bottle of water mixed with peppermint castile  soap at the ready to spray them.  I'm not sure if they drown or the peppermint gets them, but it's pretty effective for the moment anyway.  And hand to hand combat when I find one walking up my arm.

I even found them wandering in the top of my coffee pot. 

Thankfully, they don't seem to have wandered into the room where my computer is.  I am doing what I an to finish the draft of the Molly book before I set it aside.  The last thing I need are little ant bites as I'm trying to write.