Serendipity

I am wearing two hats right now. On one hand I am working hard to finish my next manuscript which is due December 1, and at the same time, since I had two books released last week, I'm making the rounds of local bookstores to sign stock.

It's always an adventure. Sometimes more than others. I am lucky someone in my family comes along. More than comes along, they do the driving, the routing, abd figure in coffee and ice cream stops. It is surprising how tiring going to four bookstores in a day can be.

On Tuesday, we went to the Barnes & Nobles in and around the western part of L.A. It was exciting to see Behind the Seams on an endcap at the Marina del Rey store. The Santa Monia store had You Better Knot Die displayed on the tower. When we left that store, we decided to get a little food before moving on and picked a place across the way. It turned out they were filming a TV show in the restaurant. We figured why not and signed a release and had our picture taken and sat down at the sushi bar. They had been pretty vague about what the TV show was and just said there would be some singing and dancing.

I was thrilled because the book I'm manuscript I'm rushing to finish has a TV shoot in it. So, I was checking out the crew and their equipment. The restaurant is supposed to look like a couryard somewhere in Southeast Asia. So there is a center square and what looks like a veranda running around three sides. The veranda portion had a few booths filled with people. The center square had a number of table and they were all filled. If we turned around at the sushi bar, we had a view of the whole place.

Anything with TV seems to take forever. I'd long since finished my vegetable roll when a guy I assume was the director said something about it being a hot set. I turned around to see what was going to happen. A woman had a microphone on a tray and put it on the table right in front of us that had a couple sitting at it. The man picked it up and started to sing. Someone wisked their table away as all the people at the other tables got up and started singing and dancing in a what could only be described as an elaborate productrion number. Even the sushi chef turned out to be a performer. It seemed like the only people not singing and dancing were us.

The woman who'd been sitting with the man who became the lead singer, was helped up on a table as the production number continued. Finally the guy singer took out a ring box and proposed.

The music stopped and a man I suppose was the host of the show joined the happy couple. Of course, she said yes. They were joined by a singing and a dancing coach who'd prepared the guy for the production number. Then we found out what was going on. The guy was a comedian and had told his girlfriend someone was making a documentary about him, but it was all a set up for the production number proposal.

The one good thing was that since it was a set up, they could only shoot it once.

I don't know what the show is called. We just remember it was something the musical. Anyway, we had fun.

And then we went on our way to the next B & N.

And I had some happy news. You Better Knot Die was #7 on the Barnes & Noble mass market mystery bestseller list and Behind the Seams was #21 on the Barnes & Noble hardcover mystery bestseller list.

This Week

What a week!

My son’s wedding was Sunday. The food was wonderful, and I think everybody had a great time. I got through the dance with my son without tripping over my feet. I gave my toast and got a laugh from the audience and a hug from my new daughter.

Monday was Halloween. The neighbor down the street who rents his house out for movie and film productions had gone over the top decorating for Halloween. I mean really over the top. The whole front yard is hidden from view by extensive greenery and they had created a creepy entrance by putting a castle sized gray gate over their driveway. Next to the entrance there was a car up on the curb as if it had been in an accident. There was a fake dead cow underneath the car. I didn’t actually go in their yard, but I saw a lot of life sized skeletons. Out front, a cherry picker held up a big screen that something was being shown on.

Their house must have gotten on one of the TV news shows or all over Facebook, because the crowd this year was a record breaker. We had 683 trick or treaters. I handed out candy and my husband kept track. For the first time in our personal Halloween history, we ran out of candy - and it was only 7:45.

Later that night we began to notice Goldy, or Blondie as she is called in my books, wasn’t well. She kept skittering around all night, going from one spot to another and then back again. When I got up in the morning, I found her laying in my closet. Anyone who has pets knows that isn’t a good sign. I wrapped her in a towel and we took her to the vet. I was afraid it was going to be a one way trip. We had to leave her because the vet was in surgery and we had to take my brother to the airport. We got the call just as we reached Burbank airport. Thank heavens Goldy wasn’t as bad as she seemed. He thinks she had some arthritis in her spine and gave her some medication.

She is back home and seems okay. I have written about Goldy before and what an unpredictable dog she is. Apparently she liked that first night she spent in my closet because now it has become her sleeping place of choice.

Tuesday Behind the Seams came out in hardcover and You Better Knot Die came out in a paperback edition. Wednesday I began making the rounds of local bookstores to sign stock. I have to say it was pretty cool when I walked in Bookstar in Studio City and saw Behind the Seams on display right by the cash register.

Starting on November 7, I’m going to be one of the featured authors on the Barnes & Noble Mystery Forum. I would love to have you stop by and leave a comment. To get there you go to BarnesandNoble.com. If you click on books, a menu drops down. At the bottom is Blogs and Forums. Click on that and look through the list until you come to Mystery Forum.

I am also guest blogger today at Cozy Chicks www.cozychicksblog.com and Dru’s Book Musings http://notesfromme.wordpress.com.

Behind the Scenes of Behind the Seams

It’s time to get bookmarks made for Behind the Seams. It comes out in November along with the mass market version of You Better Knot Die. I have been so focused on writing my seventh book, I just put the two releases in the part of my mind marked “future.” But there’s this thing about the future I always seem to forget. Eventually it becomes the present.

So now it is hustle and hurry to write the back copy for the bookmarks and then get them to Arnold, the wonderful printer Linda recommended. I want them ready for me to take to the Fall Knit and Crochet Show and the Writers Police Academy.

I’m going to donate a couple of ARC (advanced readers copies) of Behind the Seams to the Knit and Crochet Show silent auction.

I love the cover of Behind the Seams. The art department always manages a little sinister touch. Can you find it on the Behind the Seams cover?

Getting Ready to Go

I am trying to get ready for my next trip, which is really a trip within a trip. I’m feeling a little distracted. There is the first trip to Chicago. I’m concerned with the weather which sounds uncomfortable to put it mildly, a malfunctioning air conditioner which thanks to the Internet I think I know how to fix, and some plumbing work being done to my place which will require holes in the wall and probably lots of banging.

Then there’s the trip within a trip. I’m going to Minneapolis for the Knit and Crochet Show. Thanks the a newbie list I’m on, I have gotten some idea of what to expect and what to wear, etc., but there are the two classes I signed up for and the supplies I need for them. I sort of know what roving is, but there’s no place around here to get it. Surely I can buy it there. Then I need to cancel one hotel reservation because the sold out host hotel suddenly had rooms. I need to bring bookmarks to give out, but how many?

The dog and cats are already giving me dirty looks because the suitcase is out.

In the midst of all this preparation, I got the first pass pages of Behind the Seams and You Better Knot Die from my editor to proof read, which they need back August 1 and August 3, respectively. Guess who will be lugging manuscripts and reading on the plane? And when all those holes are being made in the walls and the pipes being banged on, I’ll be sitting in front my hopefully working air conditioner, reading.

I hadn’t really thought about it until I read the messages on the newbie list for the Knit and Crochet Show, but apparently everybody wears some of their own creations. Uh oh. Most of the things I’ve made for myself are wooly and warm and not at all right for the weather in Minneapolis. I came up with a cool idea for an evening scarf. It’s light and airy and should look really pretty when I finish it, which I have to do before the first banquet. So, when I take a break from proof reading, it’ll be crochet time. I won’t even go into the hank of yarn I had to make into a ball so I can make a light weight cowl as well to wear during the show. It’s kind of double duty because the cowl pattern will be in the book I’m writing now - Knot What It Seams.

And to top all of it off, I am planning to work on Knot What It Seams, too. You can see why I might be a little distracted.

How do you center yourself when you feel pulled in a lot of directions?

Time is Running Out

I'm going to have to make it short this week. I got Behind the Seams back for revision and about two weeks to do it in. I didn't think it would be a problem as my editor only had a few concerns, so I let it go a couple of days. Then when I began to read the whole thing over, I started to freak out. I wasn't happy with a whole scene and sentences were awkward. It's not changing the plot or anything drastic, but lots of little things. All my plans for going through 50 pages a day went out the window and I spent two days working on five pages.

I have until a week from tomorrow and I have another 200 or so pages to go through. Needless to say, no more two days on five pages.

In the meantime, the moderator for the panel I'm going to be on at Malice Domestic in Washington DC at the end of this month has been communicating about our panel. We're going to be discussing holiday books, which should be interesting. One of the challenges of writing You Better Knot Die was to make it a holiday book, but then be able to sell it all year. One of the things Berkley did was to keep the holiday touches on the bookcover subtle.

And the plans for Printers Row in Chicago the first weekend in June are coming together. I'm going to be in the Mystery Writers of America booth again and on a panel with some of my writer friends Julie Hyzy, Kate Collins and JB Stanley also know as Ellery Adams. You never know what the weather is going to be like. In the three years I've taken part in it, it's been hot and stormy, cold and stormy and just plain chilly. Who knows what it will be this year.

I was so busy this week, I didn't even get back to my last week's blog to comment on Planner's comment. You are right, Planner, I do manage to enjoy most things. I certainly enjoyed the trip to Santa Fe.

That's it, back to my manuscript.

Lights and Action

It wouldn’t be the holidays without a drive through Candy Cane Lane. Though this year my take on the trip was a little different. Usually we just ooh and aah about all the decorated houses and yards. Almost everybody in the four square block area goes all out with lights, snowmen, angels, snowflakes and even one live Santa in a sleigh. Everybody drives about five miles an hour and only has their parking lights on.

Along with all the decorations, there are people standing in the street selling glow in the dark necklaces, the Eagle Scouts set up an espresso bar and a pink truck strung with lights makes fresh funnel cakes.

The normally empty streets are clogged with traffic and this year with bicycles, too. Luckily the bicycle riders had decked themselves and their transportation out in holiday lights, otherwise it there could have been a lot of squished wheels and maybe squished riders, too.

But I said my take on the ride through all the decorations was different this year. When I knew that You Better Knot Die was going to be a holiday book, I knew I wanted to have a scene in Candy Cane Lane. I also knew that just a scene of people oohing and aahing would be pretty flat. So I stuck a climatic scene there, where Molly and her crew realize somebody is going to get away with murder unless they can get somewhere and stop them. Unfortunately, they realize this as they are in one of the decorated houses. The street is a traffic jam and even backing out of the driveway takes forever. Then moving with the snail pace of the other cars makes it even more tense. Finally, finally, they get to a cross street and are able to speed up.

Now I can’t get that image out of my head. This year as we passed the three colorfully lit palm trees, the giant snow globe with Santa and a snowman, the driveway with a jeep covered in strings of lights, and the live Santa in the sleigh with a line of people (all adults) waiting to sit on his lap, all I could think about was Molly and her friends. Were they in the car behind us, pounding on the steering wheel in frustration, trying to will us to go faster?

Do you have a special holiday tradition?

Me and Justin Bieber

I am still making the rounds of bookstores - this time in the L.A. area. With the holiday shopping gearing up, though, I think bookstore personnel are going to be too busy helping customers to want to deal with a wandering author. So, other than a booksigning at the Barnes & Noble at the Westside Pavilion shopping center on December 12, I will probably only go in bookstores to buy books.

That’s why we went to the Barnes & Noble at the Grove Wednesday night. The Grove is the current hot spot in L.A.. It’s an outdoor shopping area built to appear to be a town square in a perfect little place somewhere. There is a mini park and a pond with dancing waters and even a trolley - though it just goes in a circle. The Grove next to CBS studios and attracts both tourist and celebrity shoppers. The show Extra tapes there and a scene in You Better Knot Die takes place there. The Barnes & Noble is three stories tall and hosts celebrity authors. The latest teen pop sensation Justin Bieber signed his book there a couple of weeks ago and there were screaming girls and their moms lined up around the block. I don’t know what his book was - a memoir perhaps? How much can there be to memoir about at 16? But that’s another story.

Even though it was late, 8:30, on the night before Thanksgiving, the store was very busy. I found the New in Fiction table in the primo spot just inside the door on the first floor. I scanned the array of books looking for mine. It wasn’t there. I know my book is supposed to be on the New in Fiction table, but sometimes it ends up on the New in Mystery shelf. I rode the escalator to the third floor where the mystery section is and went to the information desk and introduced myself to the manager and offered to sign my books. He checked his computer which apparently said the books were supposed to be on the New in Fiction table. He went all the way down to the first floor and checked the table. No You Better Knot Dies. He came back up and checked the New in Mystery section. Again, No You Better Knot Dies. He got help from another manager and they checked around some more and came up empty handed. They apologized profusely and I left them with a stack of post cards with the book cover.

I was ready to shrug it off as a whatever sort of circumstance and went down the escalator to the first floor. Just as I was about to leave the store, I noticed a table on the other side of the front door from the New in Fiction table. It had a sign saying Merry Christmas. Even though the managers had already checked it, and in all the bookstores I’ve gone to, my book has never been on the holiday table, I looked anyway. And there it was.

I went back up to the third floor and found the manager who was now becoming my friend and told him of my find. I returned to the first floor with a two manager entourage and showed them the book. They were so happy I found it and so apologetic that they’d missed it, they offered to put them on the Autographed Book ladder. Guess who else’s book is there? I hope some of Justin’s fans like crochet.

Have you ever had something that seems like a problem turn into a positive?

And the winner of the drawing for a copy of You Better Knot Die is Janet. If you send your snail mail address to Hechtmanbooks@aol.com, I will send the book off to you.

No Turkey Day

Thanksgiving isn’t exactly a vegetarian’s best holiday. It hasn’t been a problem for the past number of years because we’ve eaten at a restaurant that had a buffet and no one could care less that all I ate was salad, vegetables and potatoes.

But this year it’s going to be different. We’re invited to my son’s future in laws. I don’t think they know I’m a vegetarian. If I tell them before hand, it comes off as if I expect them to have something special for me. The way I look at it, it’s my choice to be a vegetarian and there’s no reason why they should have different food for me. The thing is, I wouldn’t mind just eating whatever, even if it’s only salad and potatoes. But if I don’t say anything and the hostess notices I’m not eating all the food she prepared, her feelings are likely to be hurt and if I say I’m a vegetarian as a way of explaining, then she may feel upset that there isn’t anything besides salad and potatoes for me to eat.

You see my point? Either way it’s a problem. Personally, I’d rather never bring it up. Who really cares what I do or don’t eat? Well, it usually comes down to the question of what I eat for protein. The answer is I don’t worry about it. I haven’t eaten meat, fish or fowl for 27 years and seem to be doing fine. What’s the saying - the proof is in the pudding. In other words, whatever I’m eating seems to work for me. BTW, I live surrounded by carnivores and we have a truce. They don’t try to get me meat, fish or fowl, and I don’t try to get them not to.

So, I’m asking your advice for my dilemma. Is it better to say nothing and just eat whatever and hope no one notices or is it better to tell the hostess in advance that I’m a vegetarian?


I signed stock at some more bookstores this week. Funny thing, my editor said it’s supposed to be on the Holiday table at Barnes & Noble. In the places I’ve gone to, You Better Knot Die has been on the regular shelf with my other books, or in New Mystery, and in a few stores, it’s been on the New in Fiction table. But it has never been with the holiday books. So, if by chance you’re looking for it, check all of the above places. And if you leave a comment you're name will be put in a drawing for a copy of You Better Knot Die.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chicago Part 2

Ah, Chicago weather. After I wrote about the crazy day with sunshine, then hail, rain and wind, the weather changed again. This time to near perfect and it stayed that way until we left, making it much easier to get around. I went to 22 bookstores and signed their stock of You Better Knot. I went to suburbs I’d never been to before. All the booksellers were very cordial, though a few seemed a little surprised. I guess it isn’t every Saturday evening that an author from California shows up in the Deerfield Barnes & Noble.

It wasn’t all just booksigning. We discovered the Oberweis Dairy store, too. I’m a picky ice cream eater. Basically I only like McConnell’s of Santa Barbara ice cream. Or I should say I used to only like the one ice cream. Now I like Oberweis ice cream as well.

Then there was operation trash can. A raccoon had chewed holes in the plastic garbage can on my back porch, making it easy for the critter to find the banana peels and other choice items in my trash. Since I don’t rent a car when I come alone and didn’t really want to drag home a metal can on my luggage rack, we stopped at a Home Depot between bookstore stops and bought a shiny new raccoon proof garbage can. It rattled and rolled around the back of the SUV for the rest of the day.

Of course we spent some time walking around downtown Chicago. L.A. is trying to make its downtown into something, but it’s still got a long way to go as far as I’m concerned. Chicago’s downtown is a destination. There were lots of people on the street even at night. Even though Marshall Fields is now Macy’s, they have kept the Fields tradition of putting up a giant Christmas tree in the Walnut Room restaurant. The tree lighting was last weekend. We stopped by to look at it on Monday. Wow.

Marshall Fields is full of holiday memories for me. I remember drooling over their Christmas catalog when I was a kid. Then when I was in college, I worked in the toy department from October until New Years. There were carolers and so many shoppers you couldn’t see the counter across the way. Their Santa Claus set up was legendary with their special characters Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. And their magical Christmas window displays always attracted a huge crowd.

We were done with bookstores by our last day there and took a nice walk to the lakefront. The sky was a hazy blue and the lake calm. The weather so warm that a sweater was enough. We stopped and sat on a bench, admiring the view of the downtown buildings in the distance. Then we got in the SUV and drove to the airport.

This Saturday, November 13, I’m going to be on a cozy panel with Hannah Dennison, Aileen G. Baron and Michael Mallory at the Julian Dixon Library, 4975 Overland, Culver City, CA. The program goes from 2-4 pm. Everybody is welcome.

What is your favorite memory of stores around the holidays?

Time Out

Ah, Chicago weather. Need I say more?

I’m here to get to as many bookstores as possible to sign copies of You Better Knot Die. The plan for today was simple. We would head north and go to a Borders and Barnes & Noble in the Lincoln Park area then after a brief stop at Costco we’d head toward Evanston and beyond.

When we left L.A. yesterday the temperature was hovering in the nineties and the long sleeve tee shirt I wore felt like overkill. My new favorite thing to crochet is a gaiter, which also seems to be called a cowl. The one I just made is wool and looking at it in L.A. made me sweat, but I packed it anyway. Good thing.

While it was sunny this morning and the sky blue with puffs of clouds, by the time we left, the sky had turned steel gray. When we got to Borders, the wind had started up. I signed the books quickly and when we came out, there were a few drops of rain. It was drizzling when we headed for Barnes & Noble, and then just before I went in the door, the sky opened up and dumped sheets of rain. Inside, I was happy to see You Better Knot Die on the New in Mystery shelf, and like at Borders, copies of each of my other books.

Since the weather keeps changing in Chicago, I figured by the time we went back outside the deluge would be over. No. As we headed up Clyborn toward Costco, the rain turned to hail. By the time we got into the parking lot, it had gone back to merely raining. Even though it was dark, you could see this giant dark cloud hanging over us. The wind lashed the rain right under my umbrella and the giant warehouse style store was a warm respite from the weather. We were still planning to continue on with our plans, but the second time we heard the pummel of hail on the roof, we decided not keep on going to the further bookstores.

By the time we were back on the south side, the rain had moved on, but the wind was coming through in gusts that made the large branches of the old trees above us creak. Wet leaves fluttered down and stuck to whatever they landed on. We dropped off our packages at home and decided to walk two blocks to a restaurant. The wind sailed around us and swirled into every open crevice in my clothes until I felt like I wasn’t wearing anything. The only warm spot was my neck thanks to my gaiter/cowl.

Earlier this week Linda wrote about managing time and deadlines. I am on the opposite side of that, for a few days, at least. I have turned in the manuscript for Behind the Seams. You Better Knot Die is out and if the stores I’ve gone to in L.A. and Chicago are any indication, is on the shelves everywhere. I have set aside the proposal I was working on, and for these few days I’m going to let myself go where the wind blows me. No to-do list. Just eat, sleep, crochet and run around the city going to bookstores.

Uh,oh, I forgot heat goes off at night - the disadvantage of being a night owl in a condo with central heating. I wonder how the gaiter/cowl will go with my pajamas.

What about you? Do you enjoy having some time when you don’t constantly have that nagging feeling that you should be doing something else?

Counting Down the Days

It feels so weird to be writing this on Thursday night. It has been a week of last minute preparations for the release of You Better Knot Die. My website needed to be updated, which meant I had to take photographs of the crochet projects. It wasn’t just procrastination that had kept me from doing it. I wanted to take them outside and we’ve been having a freaky October. Usually we have bone dry winds and hot sun, but this year it has been all about gloom and drizzly rain with some actual showers thrown in. My flowers have been perked up by the weather and the bald spots on my lawn are green again, but flat light and gray skies aren’t good for outdoor photographs.

Finally last Sunday I noticed some patches of blue sky in the morning and the sun breaking through. I should have seized the moment, but I thought it would just get brighter as the day progressed. It didn’t. By afternoon the sky was white again, but I went ahead with the photos anyway. I’m glad I didn’t wait until later in the day. The next thing I knew it was drizzling - again. I had expected it to be a day without rain and had hung laundry outside. I only use a dryer as a last resort. I think it cooks your clothes.

When the drizzle turned to actual rain, I had to pull in all the laundry and hanging it on every available spot inside.

I finished all the stuff for my website and turned it over to my webmaster to work his magic.

My editor contacted me about a question and answer thing for the Berkley website. Of course, I said yes. Since they needed it back by Wednesday, I’m guessing it will be up soon.

You Better Knot Die comes out on Tuesday and my plan is to hit as many bookstores as possible and sign stock. Then Wednesday I go to Chicago with a similar plan.

So all my ducks are in a row now. Now I’m going to cross my fingers and hope for the best.

The other big preparation this week is for Halloween. If it is like past years, we'll have around 300 trick or treaters. I might have bought the candy too early this year. I noticed a lot of it has disappeared. Still time to get to Costco and get another one of those gigantic bags. I haven't decorated yet, but there are still a few days and everything will be on sale at Target now.

What are you doing for Halloween?

Short Post

It’s a very short blog today. I hope we didn't have a theme this week. I am hopelessly behind on reading emails and blogs.

I finished rewriting my manuscript for my sixth book earlier in the week. Then it was just proofreading, or so I thought. Proofreading turned into tweaking and then to a little rewriting.

In the midst of it, the first copy of You Better Knot Die arrived. It's my first hardcover and it's beautiful.

I am in the home stretch. I just have only 37 more pages to go over. Then I’ll type in the recipes. They’ve already been tried and tasted. The crochet patterns are written, but all over post it notes and index cards. I need to decipher them and type them in. Then I’m done. And I attack the mountain of laundry and 1700 emails.

The winner of Dirty Rotten Tendrils is Kay. Please email me your snail mail address at hechtmanbooks@aol.com and I’ll send it off to you.

The Harrowing Halls

This week we’ve been writing about the start of school. For me there was no excitement over new pencils and fresh notebooks. I viewed the start of school with apprehension. My high school was ahead of its time. We had drugs, gangs, guns and knives long before it an issue everywhere. The street that bordered my school had the second highest crime rate in the city. I knew what it was like to be a minority. Sometimes I was the only white person in the room.

I had to walk over a mile to get there. I passed buildings that smelled so bad, I had to hold my breath. I was basically afraid all of the time and went to school as little as possible.

The lunch room was particularly bad. I’d seen students with knives and coke bottles smashed against a table to become a weapon. It wasn’t the kind of place you wanted to have eat alone. The year no one I knew had the same lunch period, I skipped it entirely and spent my lunch period in the library.

I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible and went to summer school, which cut the four years down to three and half. You could go to anywhere for summer school, so I rode the bus to a another neighborhood where the worst thing that happened is someone in my biology class put the worm we were dissecting in some girl’s purse.

Despite the above I was not horrifically depressed or even unhappy. I was lucky enough to have wonderful parents, a Unitarian youth group that provided a social life, and a million babysitting jobs.

And then I went to college and my whole world opened up.

Along with writing about the start of school, all my blog sisters have been having contests. Here’s mine. Everyone who leaves a comment before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Saturday will be entered. I will put all of your names in a bowl and have my husband randomly choose one. I will announce the name in my next Saturday’s blog. The winner will need to contact me with their mailing information.


And the prize is.... DA TA DA An advance readers copy of You Better Knot Die.

Yellow Pads and Bossy Characters

This week we’ve been writing about how we write our books.

I like to start with yellow legal pads. I buy them by the bunch at Costco and for some reason give me one of those, a nice pen, and a cup of coffee in the morning and the story seems to come to me.

The short coming is that I tend to keep starting new pads and although I try to date and make notes explaining what the stuff is, I sometimes get it all mixed up. There is also the issue of my handwriting. When I really get going, it’s hard for me to write fast enough and what I do write comes out as a mess.

But since I’ve already written something, it’s much easier to move to the computer and even if I can’t read every word, I usually remember the essence of what I wrote. Also as I put it in the computer I am already rewriting it.

Like Linda, I use index cards, but usually when I’m writing the synopsis. I like them because you can go back and add to a scene by adding another card, but not get the sequence of everything mixed up.

As for ideas - I have noticed that as I’m do the rewrite of one book, something of the next one shows up. It might be an opening scene, a piece of the story, or something about crochet. It’s nice to have something to start with because each time start a new book I feel a little panicky and wonder how I’m going to do it.

Sometimes, my characters take over and completely surprise me. I was totally shocked at the last line of You Better Knot Die, which comes out in November. It was Barry Greenberg’s idea, not mine.

Do any of you writers think your characters are trying to take over?

Me and My ER

For anybody who tuned in late, my blogsisters and I are writing about e-readers this week.

Due to the subject matter, I made a real effort to find my Kindle. The fact that I didn’t know where it was kind of clues you in to how much I like it. I did find it – buried under some stuff in a basket. I couldn’t believe how clunky it looked compared to the ones they’re advertising on TV now and it’s maybe two years old.

If I had realized, and I should have since that’s how it seems to go with all electronic stuff, that it was going to be outdated in a few months, I never would have bought it. But Oprah did a show raving about Kindles and had a special offer that if you ordered one within the next 24 hours and put in some code, you got a bunch of money off.

So far I have two books on it. One I read and one I only read a little of. Someone I met in a bookstore told me that once I had a book I really wanted to read on the device, I would forget it was a device and get lost in the book. That did happen with the book I read, which was Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn. I was going to Chicago and faced with lugging the hardcover version (which I’d already begun) or taking along the much smaller Kindle, the device won. I admit to getting caught up in vampires - enough so that there’s vampire who crochets in You Better Knot Die.

The other book on my Kindle is The Friday Night Knitting Club. I don’t know if it was the book or the device, but I had to force myself to read fifty pages. While trying to get into the book, I noticed things I didn’t like about the Kindle (though to be fair some of those issues have since been worked out). There were no page numbers, just position numbers and I felt somehow lost, like I couldn’t tell where I was in the book. I don’t recall a book cover. (I’d check, but I’m charging it now since the battery was deader than dead), or if there was one, it was in black and white and not memorable. Despite the old saying about not judging a book by its cover, we do. When you’re browsing, they clue you in on what kind of book it is. Covers help sell books.

For both the book I liked and the one I didn’t, I found the page turning tabs annoying. I kept hitting them by mistake. And since the big plus is supposed to be for travel, I didn’t care for having to turn it off and stow it for both take-off and landing. Particularly landing. Reading is a good distraction from my ears closing and sometime hurting, the bumps as we go down through the clouds and that wait for the big bump when we hit the ground. Luckily, they don’t make you stow your crochet hooks.


Who knows what will happen with e-readers. Ten years ago, I heard a very big New York agent give a talk on e-readers and he virtually said paper books were done for. But they weren’t. There were a bunch of e-readers that came out then and then went away.

I am all for being open minded. I’m going out of town next week and I’ll take my outdated clunky reader with me. I certainly am not going to be fooled into upgrading to another version, only to find out that its out of date in a few months. The one I have does the main job its supposed to do, which is you an download books and read them on it.
Wouldn’t you know just when I’m going away there’s going to be excitement on my street. A TV location person came by the other night to tell me that they’re going to be filming a crime scene investigation for Criminal Minds down the street. There’s going to be yellow tape, emergency vehicles with flashing lights but no sirens, and of course a body.

What do you think of E-Readers?

A Night on the Town

My number one priority right now is finishing going over the copy edited version of You Better Knot Die since my editor needs it back by Tuesday. I’d finished the portion I planned to do today and my husband and I made an outing out of going to Walmart.

I guess it doesn’t make us sound like we have a lot going on if going to Walmart can be considered any outing, but I think things are what you make of them. The one we go to is in an area called Porter Ranch that is all the way across the Valley and up on plateau against the the Santa Susanna Mountains. To me, it feels like a trip somewhere. I can look across the Valley and see the twinkling lights of Tarzana.

It was more about going somewhere than about shopping. I wanted to get some flowers to take the place of the petunias that have already died. I don’t know why, but I have poor luck growing petunias, which is too bad because I love their color and fragrance. Even with my not so good luck, I wanted to try again with some more plants. Maybe if I give them some special dirt they’ll thrive. My vegetable garden is beginning to take off. I already got the first tomato and put it in last night’s salad. It was an heirloom variety and had a different texture than a regular tomato. It was also a much brighter red, maybe blood red. There’s another one ready for picking.

We made a real evening of it and stopped at our favorite deli for supper first. I had a nice surprise there. I ran into somebody I know who I hadn’t seen in awhile and she told me she was reading her third book of mine.

Walmart is never quiet and on Friday night when people just got paid, it’s extra busy. Lots of kids trying out bicycles and people buying the latest DVD release to make an at home movie night. It was late when we got there and the plant area was always empty except for a friendly guy watching people as they exited that way to make sure they paid for their merchandise.

We did our shopping and got in line to checkout. I got the petunias, and some marigolds, too. I love the way they smell. And some white flower with pink center vincas because they are tough as nails and seem to thrive no matter what. The checkers are always pleasant, particularly if you consider that they face an endless line of people buying beach balls, cases of soda, electric drills and countless other things. This time after I’d given my credit card and done all the button pushing and signing, I noticed the woman’s badge said her name was Dolores. I usually just say thank you at the end, but this time I said thank you, Dolores. The woman’s head snapped up and her eyes came into focus. First, no doubt wondering if she knew me. Once she realized she didn’t, she kept the trace of a smile. It was clear that she felt noticed. And for me – she wasn’t just somebody with a blue tunic watching endless boxes of cereal and cans of paint go by. She was a person with a whole life story that had nothing to do with being a checker. All because I called her by name.

So, then I wondered why don’t I do this all of the time. The best I could come up with was that it’s breaking some kind of wall of privacy. It’s moving out of my own little anonymous bubble and making contact. But it made me feel good and it seemed to make her feel good. I’m definitely going to try to keep personalizing the thank yous when I go places even if it means stepping outside my comfort zone.

When you’re at the grocery store or at a restaurant, do you insert the person who helps you’s name when you thank them? Do you think it makes a difference?

Catching Up

I sent the revision of You Better Knot Die to my editor via cyberspace on Monday. I felt a big sigh of relief and the feeling of satisfaction from finishing something. In my push to finish, I’d let a few things go, like unpacking my suitcase from my trip to Malice and Chicago. What a surprise when I opened it up today and found a printed note from the TSA that they had searched it.

I wonder what set them off. Was it the apricot yarn in the cute shopping bag I got in Alexandria? Or maybe the Guide to Santa Fe? Did it seem odd that someone flying from Washington or Chicago (not sure when the search took place) was interested in the New Mexico town? The Left Coast Crime Conference is going to be in Santa Fe and I already signed up for it even though it isn’t until next March. I’d picked up the pamphlet at the Malice conference where they were taking sign ups for Left Coast. I figure it’s never too early to see what’s there.

Or could it have been the pamphlet I picked up in the Washington hotel lobby about Williamsburg Virginia. If the other project I’m working on gets a go, one of the books is going to take place there. I’m definitely not counting my chickens before they hatch, but no reason not to have some information on what’s in Williamsburg. I figure that if I’m going to write about the place, I’ll certainly going to be going there.

I can’t believe there was anything about my clothes that was threatening. Dirty laundry is dirty laundry. There is only one thing that might have given those TSA guys pause. The black apron that has Killer Hobbies in blood red embroidered lettering.

Thanks to Joanna, all us blog sisters have these snazzy aprons to use at future events to advertise our blog.

Whatever set the TSA people off, it looks like they were satisfied my suitcase and contents were harmless because nothing seemed to be missing. I finally emptied the bag and was going to stick into the back of the closet, but then realized there was no point making it hard to get to since I’m going away again in a couple of weeks.

This time to Chicago for the Printers Row Book Fair, which is June 12 and 13. It’s a very big deal this year because not only am I going to be signing in the Mystery Writers of America booth on Saturday from 10 a.m. to Noon, but I’m going to be on the Mysteries with a Cozy Twist panel along with Wendy Lyn Watson, Clare O’Donohue, Heather Webber and Kate Collins, as well. The panel is on Saturday from 2:30-3:15.

I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that the weather is better than the last two years. The first year it was hot and there was a thunderstorm and the tornado sirens went off, and last year it rained and was so cold I could barely sign my name.

I hope the TSA people don’t find it suspicious that I pack tank tops and mittens.

Have you ever had your bag searched and did you figure out why?

Side Trips

It seems like everything is hitting the fan at one time. I got the go ahead on the synopsis for the sixth crochet mystery and today got my revision letter for You Better Knot Die. Tomorrow (I’m posting this Friday night) is the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and I’m going to be in the Sisters in Crime booth Saturday from 4-6. Anybody in the area please stop by. The booth is near Royce Hall. Then it’s get ready to go to Malice Domestic in Washington DC. I’m leaving Thursday morning. It’s a chance to meet up with a lot of my writer friends, and hang out in the hospitality room with Joanna. Berkley takes all their writers out to a fabulous dinner at RuthChris Steakhouse (they have a nice vegetarian option) and there’s a banquet on Saturday night. I’m going to be on a panel Sunday morning about red herrings with a book signing afterwards.

The cool thing about the Washington Trip is that the subway station is practically in the hotel. The first time I discovered the subway, I was surprised at how easy it was to get to all the good place. A few stops and you come up in the Mall. One direction is the capital and the other the Washington Monument. And in between all the Smithsonian museums.

This year I’m planning to go somewhere different. I discovered if you take the subway in the opposite direction, it’s only a few stops plus a bus to Old Town Alexandria. I have an book that describes walking tours in and around Washington. That’s where I found out how close Alexandria is to where I’m staying. The book didn’t have any pictures, but it described various old buildings. I find the pictures never really tell enough anyway.

So for now, what it looks like is a bit of mystery to me. I know there is an old apothecary that in the old days had globes of different color water to tell people who couldn’t read when there was an epidemic of some bad disease like plague, cholera or yellow fever. There a Palladian style mansion which interests me because there was a whole thing about Palladian houses in Dead Men Don’t Crochet. I had to write about the style from pictures. It would be nice to see what it looks like in real life.

I know this trip is about meeting readers and spending some time with my agent and editor, but I always like to throw in some tourists stuff. I already signed up for next year’s Left Coast Crime because its in Santa Fe and I’ve always wanted to go there. Last year’s Left Coast was in Hawaii. I loved the day trip I took around the Kona coast. Each night I watched the sunset either from the balcony of my room or from down by the water. It was very cool to encounter a sea turtle sleeping on the black rocky beach.

It’s not going to be all fun and tours, though. I’ll be working on the sixth crochet mystery and the revisions for You Better Knot Die, though that will be mostly during my stop in Chicago after DC.

How about you? Do you like to mix pleasure in with business?















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