More Research

 I wrote about doing research for the third Crochet and Crumpet mystery by playing mini golf.  I took even further this past weekend by actually going to the Indiana town that is the model for the one in the book.  Since the book takes place right about now, seeing the how the trees looked with their bright colored leaves refreshed my memory and reminded me why fall was my favorite season when I lived in Chicago and why it when I like to go back.

The fall weather is gentler than the ups and downs of spring, the hot humidity of summer and bleak coldness of winter.  While I was in Chicago and Indiana, the sky was blue and the temperature warm enough to not need a jacket.  The bustle of the street in my Chicago neighborhood was a nice change from the few dog walkers and joggers I see go by my San Fernando Valley house.  I  got to see the Obama library, though only from the outside as we didn't have tickets to go inside.  Next time.  Now that it is finished with  gardens around it and all the construction stuff gone, the design is growing on me.  It is definitely distinctive.  It is in a spot that I passed everyday when I walked to high school.  

The trip to Indiana gave me fresh insight for the book and reconfirmed  some things that I had written.  I did pass cornfields with dried out stalks just the way I had described in the manuscript.  I stopped at the school house that is the model for the one in the book.  There is a little cemetery across the road from it.  This time I noticed a bench in it I hadn't seen before.  

We stopped to see my property or really my forest since the cottage is long gone and the area has been filled in with trees.  The only hint that there was a house is the outhouse which after all these years is still standing.  Just being there and looking at the acreage brought up all the happy times I spent there.  It was always a big trip to get there.  Before we had a car, we had to walk to the train in Chicago carrying shopping bags of food for the weekend.  We got a ride from the train in Indiana and then we were at the cottage for the weekend.  On the way, we had to pick up a block of ice for the ice box.  

It's so different now.  We drove out there for the afternoon and went around the area going to Michigan City and Valparaiso as if it was no big deal.  It still makes me happy to just be there. 

 

My Last Post of October

And therefore, Happy Halloween, everyone!

I’m starting to work on promoting K-9 Evidence, my upcoming release that is the first book in my new K-9 Crime Solvers series. And it’s being promoted in some ways for me! I’ve been invited to do a blog post for a well-known site in November, and I’m getting other suggestions online that sometimes would require me to pay and sometimes not. And of course I’ll do my usual forms of letting the world know as the time gets even closer.

And of course I’m still working on the third book in my K-9 Crime Solvers series.

Going Golfing

 I decided to get actual experience  for the next Crochet and Crumpet Mystery and play around of miniature golf.  I wanted to see what the holes looked like in person rather than relying on memory and photographs.

All I had to do was mention that I wanted to play and Jakey and my son were at the door, ready to go.  It was a Friday night around nine o'clock, so the crowd was mostly people on dates.  I wondered if the women knew where they were going since the ones I saw were wearing things like short pencil skirts and shoes that weren't flat.

Lucky for us, we were dressed to play.  Jakey was thrilled to get a hole in one.  I was thrilled not to trip over anything.  It was interesting to see the setup in person.  The holes were less elaborate than I had expected.  Somehow, I had imagined more decorations that provided obstacles for the shots.  There were no sand traps or moats.  We made it through the 18 holes with lots of laughs.  We all had fun and  I got a better idea of how the holes were laid out.

We ended the evening at Jakey's favorite  fast food fried chicken place that's open late. This is the way things are now--Jakey got a giant drink and I got the kids' size one that came with his chicken.  I was more interested in the crowd than the food anyway which was lucky because I'm a vegetarian and had cole slaw and bread.  There was a group celebrating a birthday, a bunch of hungry teenage boys and some families with sleepy kids.

My favorite way to do research.   

More Writing, More Plotting

 Every time I do something special or different or both, I always start plotting in my mind—as I am currently. Last weekend I went to the Fun Day for the local Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, and am considering what I can use from that experience in a new story or series. For one thing, I met a really nice lady who works in law enforcement who’s being stalked by some guy. Oh, she’s written about it, so I’m not going to attempt to tell her story. But it’s edging on my mind. And of course so are Cavaliers! That day was our Cari’s 10^th birthday, so a lot of what we did there was to celebrate her.

And otherwise? Yes, I’m still working on the third book in my current Harlequin Romantic Suspense series, K-9 Crime Solvers. It’s fun to see the first now in print form, though not available yet, plus I received copies of a print version that also has another author’s story in it, one of the Harlequin Romantic Suspense Colton books.