Weekend, Work and Waiting

Last week I blogged about a weekend that was fun--except for the traffic.  That's because I went from L.A. to San Diego and back again for my book launch for TO CATCH A TREAT at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore.

This weekend was busy, though not as nuts.  I had three chapter meetings to attend for organizations I belong to: the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America; LARA - Los Angeles Romance Authors, the L.A. chapter of RWA; and the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles Chapter. 

OCC met on Saturday a distance from my home, although traffic wasn't as bad as it could have been.  LARA and SinCLA both met on Sunday, and I also was doing a chat on Sunday evening to introduce--what else?--TO CATCH A TREAT.

I have to admit that I skipped the LARA meeting, even though the chapter meets not far from my home.  But as much as I'd have loved to network again with the members, the talk that day was on how to pitch your work, and that's not of great interest to me at the moment.  And I needed the time, considering everything else going on.

I did enjoy OCC on Saturday and SinCLA on Sunday, and had fun networking at both of them.  My online chat was held when I was alone, except for my dogs--my husband was out of town--and it was enjoyable to attempt to catch up with my racing screen as other people present at the chat corresponded and asked questions.

Now that weekend is over, too, and I have some time to write.  I'm polishing a draft of Barkery & Biscuits Mystery #3, one I can send to a friend for comments, then review again before I send it off to hopefully meet my June 1 deadline--or at least shortly thereafter. 

The timing is working out well, since although I have more to write (I always do!) and have some edits coming in soon, I'm also anticipating the arrival for a few days of my older son, d-i-l and two young grandsons.  Can't wait!  But I also know I won't get much work done while they're here. 

They're worth it!

Wild Weekend and Traffic

When I attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April, I had a great conversation with one of the fun people from Mysterious Galaxy, a bookstore in San Diego that features--what else?--mysteries and sci-fi.  They also have a facility in Redondo Beach from which they put together book events.

I learned that the Mysterious Galaxy Birthday Bash was on the same weekend my second Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, TO CATCH A TREAT, was officially to become available as a release from Midnight Ink.  I was invited to do a launch event at the Birthday Bash, that Saturday, and of course I accepted!

Only problem is that I live in L.A., and a drive to San Diego can be horrible, thanks to traffic.  I was scheduled to be featured at the earliest time of the bash, 10-11 AM, along with other mystery writers.  Other genres were to be featured mostly in hour increments for the rest of the day.

On a weekend, 10 AM arrival shouldn't be too bad, shouldn't being the operative word.   My husband and I left home at 6:30 AM for what should be a little more than a two hour drive--this time should being the operative word.

And in fact, when we started out on the freeway route down there traffic was great!  We stopped for a quick fast-food breakfast and resumed our drive.  That was when a friend who knew what we were up to texted that there was a Sigalert ahead of us.

For those who don't know, a Sigalert means a major traffic jam, often resulting from an accident.  That was what happened here.  And there's no good way to reach San Diego by car from L.A. except the 5 Freeway.

As a result, we were delayed.  I reached Mysterious Galaxy twenty minutes into my scheduled panel time.  I called first to warn them, at least.  Everyone was sweet and gracious, and I did get forty minutes or so to talk to the audience with my fellow panelists about our stories.  Later, I got to sign books. 

In all, I loved it!  I thank Mysterious Galaxy for inviting me and for showing me such a good time.  Oh, and by the way, since my Barkery & Biscuits series is partly about a barkery, I brought some dog treats to pass out to other dog lovers for their pups.

We then met a friend for lunch and headed home.  Traffic?  Of course.  But this time it was expected.  And I did get back in time to pop in at another launch party, this time given in L.A. by Nadine Nettmann for her new book DECANTING A MURDER in her brand new Sommelier Mystery series, also published by Midnight Ink.

In all, it was an enjoyable weekend, and TO CATCH A TREAT is now officially available.  Did I enjoy the traffic?  Absolutely not!

Malice People

  

How interesting it is that things appear to occur in groups. 

I booted up my computer yesterday to start drafting this blog post for today and saw Monica's post about her current health situation, including the people at the facility where she's staying--very interesting people.  And I'm glad to hear she's improving.

What I'd already intended to write about for my blog today was the people I saw at the Malice Domestic conference I attended last weekend.

 

I did a blog for InkSpot, the Midnight Ink blog, for Monday, and it's more generally about my experience at Malice--all fun.  You might want to take a peek at it there.  But I wanted to write even more about the people I saw at the conference, so here it is.

I've been attending Malice for more than ten years, nearly every year, so I've met a lot of the regulars from all over the country, even other parts of the world.  I'm also active in my local mystery writers' groups such as Sisters in Crime, so I knew people from the local chapters, too.  It's always fun to see and try to catch up with those I've spoken with before.

At this Malice, I also met some new writers and others who are hoping to do more writing when things about to shift in their lives finally occur.  My roommate was recently published for the first time.  I'd met her through another friend whom I'd asked to room with but who already had a roommate, so she hooked me up with the very sweet woman I did room with, and it turned out to be a delightful situation.

Others I knew included a writer whose very first book was about to be published by my current mystery publisher, Midnight Ink.  The second book in my Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries, TO CATCH A TREAT, is officially available on May 8, the same date as her first book, so it was fun to chat with her about her journey and her current excitement level.

I talked a little bit with some of the regular booksellers in the sales room but fortunately for them they were too busy a lot of the time to talk much. 

And I also chatted a lot with some others I knew or met at the conference, including some delightful people who were on my own panel: The "Paws" That Detect: Animal Sidekicks.  All of us have animals in our stories--of course!

So the upshot of all this?  Well, I used to work as a lawyer, often in office situations, and I always enjoyed the camaraderie with others in those offices.  Now that I'm a full-time writer, I enjoy the camaraderie of my husband and dogs regularly, and I communicate with others, including fellow writers, online, but it's really fun to get together with some in person--especially when it's a delightful group like the one at Malice!

Inundated by Biscuits

How am I inundated by biscuits?  In a good way! 

I'm referring to my Barkery & Biscuits Mystery series.

The first one, BITE THE BISCUIT, was published last May.  And now it's nearly May again, and the second in the series, TO CATCH A TREAT, premiers soon--officially on May 8.

Meantime, I'm still not quite through with the rough first draft of the third in the series--title to come--and won't finish it till I return from Malice Domestic, although I hope to find time on my trip this weekend to work on editing what I've written so far.

Plus, I just signed a contract for two more books in the series.  More Barkery & Biscuits!

In the meantime, there are also more biscuit issues.  I'm not much of a cook but my Barkery books each contain a dog treat and a people treat recipe.  I've been talking about some people treat ideas with a friend who's supplying recipes, but still need to work out the dog treat.

And in case you're not aware of it, can you guess the name of my protagonist Carrie Kennersly's dog in the Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries?

You got it.  Biscuit!

Happy New Year Again!

 I wished you all a happy new year last week, and I'm doing so again since this is my first Killer Hobbies blog post of 2016! 

As I mentioned before, I'm still celebrating the holidays.  More family members, including my grandsons, arrive today.  It'll be wonderful to have them around.

And last week I mentioned it might be too late to see Christmas lights, but I was wrong.  We visited the same amazing display we saw last year--and learned there that it had won a national televised award for being the best competing Christmas display in the country, the Great Christmas Light Fight!  I could certainly see why. 

I sent the manuscript for COVERT ALLIANCE, my next Harlequin Romantic Suspense, to my editor first thing this week.  And I'm still writing my third Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, although with family around my writing time has already been sparse and will probably remain that way. 

And some good news since my last post:  My first Barkery & Biscuits Mystery BITE THE BISCUIT is a finalist for the Dog Writers Association of America's annual Maxwell Award in the fiction category!  For a dogaholic and writing lover like me, that's especially exciting! 

I hope your 2016 has started off well and only gets better.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yep, it's that time again.  Tomorrow is the big day. 

I mentioned last year that my Thanksgiving then would be a small event.  This year it's even smaller.  The neighbor who'd joined us last year has moved away, so this year it will just be my husband, younger son and I together on Thanksgiving.  Well, the dogs, too, but they don't sit at the table with us.  They stay on the floor and beg.  No human food for them, though, since both have health issues that mostly relegate them to doggy food and treats. 

But this Thanksgiving is a harbinger of things to come.  Lots of relatives will be with us soon, starting right around Christmas and continuing into January.  They include in-laws and our older son and his family--our d-i-l and two grandkids.  Plus, our d-i-l's delightful parents will be visiting for a short while, too!  It helps that we live in California while they all live in the Midwest.  No big El Nino presence here yet, but even if it arrives it's hopefully easier to live with than lots of cold and snow. 

So, there are lots of things to be thankful for tomorrow and beyond.  Meantime, I'm also thankful for a fun and fruitful writing year--three books published plus one e-published so far in 2015:  BITE THE BISCUIT, my first Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, CANADIAN WOLF, my seventh Alpha Force paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne, and KNOCK ON WOOD, my second Superstition Mystery, plus the Kindle version of ONCE A CAVALIER, a time travel romance. 

I'm working on my next book under deadline, a Harlequin Romantic Suspense, and will then head into the next Barkery book.  Next year is likely to be busy, too--another year to be thankful for. 

And you?  What are you up to this Thanksgiving?