More Summer

 Well, July 4th is over and summer has officially begun.  In the old days it used to mean that bathing suits and summer wear went on sale at department stores.  Now it mean Costco and Target bring out the Halloween decorations.  And Hallmark offers a Christmas movie festival.

I received the proof pages for DANGER LOOMS.  It is mostly for proof reading and a small changes.  I set aside the Molly manuscript to give it my full attention.  In the midst of it all I got an offer from a Greek newspaper for the four books in the Writer for Hire series.  They are sending out a cozy mystery with their Sunday newspaper and want to use my series in September.  How fun to think of people in Greece reading about Veronica Blackstone in Chicago.

I am sticking to therapeutic  crochet right now.  The same blanket is getting bigger as it offers a peaceful escape from  the chaos around here.  I would like to work on other projects, but right now I need something that is simple that I can just pick up whenever I need a break.  

It is always reassuring to see how well it works with the only side effect is getting something nice in the end.  Yay crochet 

 

Happy Birthday, USA

 Okay, I’m late referring to the July 4 celebration here, but it happened between Wednesdays, which is when I blog here at Killer Hobbies. I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the 250^th birthday of our country.  I did. My husband and I went to the Hollywood Bowl for its event, which included fireworks, and performances by the Beach Boys. 

And now? Well, I’m waiting to see what’s next in our celebration. Hey, I’m nearly always willing to celebrate, depending on the situation. 

Birthdays, sure—even when they’re not birthdays of people or pups. 

Will I write about them? Not planning to, but I don’t always plan my topics in advance—or at least not far in advance.

July 4, 2026

It's July which has always marked the beginning of the summer season.  It's hard to process that here in Southern California since we are still getting cool gray morning and eve  when the sun comes out, the temperature are cool enough that AC isn't required.  I am not complaining--not when I see what the temperatures are other places.

I have to admit that I don't like the Fourth of July. Instead of being a celebration , it feels ominous. It turns into a battle ground of people shooting off illegal fireworks around here.  Aside from the concern that they might injure themselves or start a fire, they terrorize all the pets--and me.  There's nothing like  what sounds like a bomb going off in the middle of the night.

I mark the occasion  by making sure all the windows are closed and the cat has a place to hide.

July might mark the beginning of summer, but Walmart was already putting out the back to school supplies.  

Last  month was about SCONED TO DEATH  coming out, but now it's back to focusing on the next Molly book.  I was happily typing away only to discover that somehow my computer did not save the days work.  It wasn't so much the computer as apparently Word.  There's a way to recover unsaved documents, but there was error with that so I will just have to write them again and hope Word doesn't screw up.

For now I am going to enjoy the peace before all the noise. 

 

Progress

 As you may know, I’ve been working hard on some edits on the manuscript for the second book in my new series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, K-9 Crime Solvers. I’ve mentioned that here quite a bit. 

And yes, I’ve been making progress. I think I’ve addressed all the prior issues, hopefully in ways that now work better, although the manuscript is now even longer than when I started out with it—which was longer than it should be. 

Are even more edits needed? Not sure, but maybe— including doing some shortening. 

Meanwhile, I hopefully have posted this on time here this week—despite my mind still spinning over accomplishing those edits, or hoping to.

 And my dogs? They’re happy, as always, keeping me company as I hang out at my computer. They enjoy hanging out beside me on the floor, although Roxie sometimes jumps onto the chair beside me to communicate, or sleep.

 By the way, Happy July, everyone!