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!

The Present and Past in Writing

Let me start with the present. I’ve got two really fun events coming up in the near future.

The nearest is Mystery on the Menu, a luncheon followed by panels at the Cerritos Library. It’s this Saturday, January 28. The cast of characters--well, writers--has been changing but it promises to be a really fun event. Check it out at the Mysterious Galaxy website: www.mystgalaxy.com/event/mystery-menu-cerritos-library-0128

Next month is Passion and Prose. It’ll be at the Westin Long Beach hotel on Saturday, February 25. The website (www.passionandprose.org) says, “Please join bestselling authors Meg Cabot, Christina Dodd, Gail Carriger, and 50 other fabulous romance authors...” I’m one of those 50 other fabulous romance authors!

Then there’s the past.

We’re spoiled, these days, with being able to research nearly everything on the Internet. It’s so easy, when I’m writing, to stop for only a few minutes and look up something I need for my story.

But, sadly, not everything is there.

I’ve been thinking about the past this week partly because my husband was running some old 8mm films about his family. He showed one movie that was shot in Miami in the early 1950s that had a picture of an old hotel called the Cromwell. I dashed over to my computer to Google it. Yes, it was there--sort of--but the best I could find was an old photo of it for sale on EBay. Apparently, it doesn’t exist any more.

That reminded me of trying to look up the delicatessen owned by my grandparents for years in downtown Pittsburgh. They sold it to someone who kept it up under the same name for several years before it was closed: Richest’s Restaurant. I’ve Googled it at different times, and the best I can find is a few blogs or articles where people reminisce about some of their favorite restaurants that aren’t there any longer.

There is a tad of information online about my relatives who once owned Richest’s--mostly just birth and death data. I’m sure the reason why this is on my mind so much today is that today would have been my beloved uncle Gary Richest’s birthday, but he’s no longer with us.

And there’s more that hasn’t been lost. Some additional things from our families’ pasts do show up on the Internet. Our older son was recently doing some research on ancestry on his dad’s side, and because those particular relatives were notable in history there was apparently quite a bit about them online.

I used to write time travel romances. I’ve also written a suspense novel loosely based on my family history and, yes, Richest’s Restaurant. The time travel romances were published but the suspense novel wasn’t. These days, I’m writing about the present and have gotten away from the past. But it’s still there talking to me, perhaps telling me to resurrect the time travel romances and republish them in e-format one of these days. And maybe I’ll even try the suspenseful version of family history.

What’s your favorite upcoming event? And have you found everything about the past that you’ve looked up on the Internet?

LA and then some

My excuse for being among the missing at the end of last week: I was at Left Coast Crime in Los Angeles, and I have photos to prove it!

Side trip: A few of us made a side trip to San Diego to the wonderful Mysterious Galaxy bookstore. Here we are: me, Penny Warner, Rhys Bowen, and Diana Orgain. Ann Parker was the photographer.



Killer Panel! I was so pleased to meet Betty and Linda and attend their great Cozy-up panel. Linda and Betty are the left and right bookends, respectively, in the photo.



Here's a photo of the auction item I contributed, a one-inch scale scene borrowed from the bathroom scene in The Godfather (if you have to ask, never mind!) Can you find the gun?




Panel: I was on a panel with Rita Lakin and Cynthia Riggs, with Mike Befeler as moderator. The title, which we all cringed at, was Geezer Lit. Ouch. We tried to emphasize the LIT part!



Some of us (ok, me) were a little annoyed at the emphasize on the age of our sleuths. Certainly Geraldine Porter, mid fifties, would balk at being called a geezer! More important, I hope the miniature mysteries that feature her as protagonist aren't about age, but about the mystery, the sleuth, and how she solves the crime. Maybe there should be a category for Bald Lit, or Thick Ankles Lit.

thoughts?

On the road for DYING TO BE THIN: week two

This past week has been incredible.

My week-that-shall-live-in-fond-memory started last Friday, when I attended the book launch party for DYING TO BE THIN. And what a party! The hostess, Mary Farrell, pulled out all the stops to make the party a night to remember. She brought in an awesome caterer, Jen Sweet (gotta love that last name), who produced Whoopie Pies wrapped in ribbons that were made from the text of my book (you have to read the first chapter of DYING TO BE THIN to understand the Whoopie Pie thing); Jen produced to-die-for empanadas, as well as dessert “cones” made out of facsimiles of the book cover. I’ve never before been to a party with such imaginative catering—I hereby nominate Jen for next year’s Top Chef!

There was a big, festive crowd, and everyone had a blast! On hand were Sisters-in-Crime LA Chapter Prez Diana James, SiS LA V.P. Susan Kozar Beery, writer-comrade Kathy Kinston, and Diana’s husband, Darrell James, who won the 2007 DEADLY INK award for his work, Trust A Dead Man To Keep A Secret. Also in attendance were my writing critique group members: Elizabeth Ralser, Lynn Schwartz, and Warren Deasy, who helped organize the event. Our critique group’s fearless leader, Lyn Stimer, could not come due to a family illness, but she was there in spirit! Oh, and Pamela Eells, the Emmy-nominated writer of Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, was also there. She’s been my best friend ever since our Wellesley College days!

On Saturday, I appeared with fellow Killer Hobbies blogger, Linda O. Johnston, at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore near San Diego (check out Linda’s newest book, Fright of the Iguana—it’s a great read!). Even more fun than selling books was getting the chance to meet the bookstore staff, both of whom are named Linda. We had three Linda’s in the house!

On Sunday, I gave a talk at the San Diego Public Library. The talk was titled (somewhat self-importantly) as “From daydream to reality: one writer’s journey to publication”. But in reality, it was a fun discussion of anything and everything about the writing process. Lynn Whitehouse and her entire staff, including technical guru, Alan Bugg, made me feel very at home.
Upcoming

The fun continues this weekend:

This Saturday, October 13th, I’ll be signing DYING TO BE THIN at 1 p.m. at The Mystery Bookstore, 1036-C Broxton Ave in Los Angeles (aka Westwood), California.

I’ll appear at another signing that same day in Valencia at 4 p.m., at Borders Books and Music #297, 24445 Town Center Drive.

Please stop by for a visit at either location, and say Howdy!