To Chester's delight . . .

What does the Festival of Lights (Hanukkah) and my bowl of homegrown catnip have in common?

Both represent miracles.

Hanukkah legend has it that a lamp with enough oil to burn for one night, miraculously burned for eight.

My Tupperware bowl of catnip from last season should have been used up months ago, but there's just a little bit at the bottom, and no matter how much I give Chester, there always seems to be more.

Wha?

P.S.  Chester is in "watch him" mode.  He's better, but not quite 100%.  (Maybe 95%)  For now, we'll take it.

It's hard to celebrate without the honoree

Today would have been my Dad's 85th birthday.

In years past, we would have my parents to dinner.  Dad and I would have a martini (served in the beautiful red martini glasses). Mr. L would make lobster, and afterwards we'd have cake and sing.

This is the second February 15th to roll around without my Dad.

But I'll hoist a martini in his honor tonight, and probably shed more than a couple of tears today.  Love doesn't end when you lose someone, that's for sure.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

And they didn't live happily ever after . . .

And so it's Valentine's Day.  A day we think of with fondness, hearts, flowers, chocolates, and above all LOVE.

Sadly, not all love stories have happy endings.

Last week a divorcing couple in our area had one argument too many that ended with two shotgun blasts.

That was last Wednesday.  The names were withheld pending the notification of relatives.

So it wasn't until Saturday afternoon, when I finally had a look at the morning paper, that I discovered who one of the victims was.  The woman at my dentist's office who scheduled all my appointments.  Seeing her picture in the paper really threw me.  Accounts of murder become doubly chilling when it's someone you actually know.

Okay, I did not know this woman personally.  But I knew her--I spoke to her on at least six occasions.  She was there every time I went to the dentist for this entire ordeal of getting dental implants.  She won't be there when I go next Monday.

How terrible for her family.  How terrible for her friends. How terrible for her co-workers.

And here it is Valentine's Day.  A day of love and this poor woman is being buried.

Oddly enough, it makes me appreciate the day even more.  Don't forget to tell someone you love that you love them.  I know I will.

Failure makes me even more determined

This is been a disappointing week.

FIrst of all, Wednesday was D-Day.  Would A Crafty Killing make it to the New York Times bestsellers list?  It had a hefty print run, I'd been busting my butt for TWENTY THREE MONTHS to get the word out to Lorna's readers that Lorna and Lorraine were the same author.  I sent out over 3,000 postcards, but obviously not to the people who buy from stores that report to the New York Times.

I feel like a complete and utter failure.

I've been on the Atkins diet for two weeks.  I lost two pounds the first week.  I GAINED a pound the second week.

I feel like a complete and utter failure.

I could just give up on trying to let my readers know that Lorna and Lorraine are the same person.

I could just give up and go back to my other eating habits.

Instead, I'm going to change tacks.

I'm going back on Weight Watchers.  It's the best diet/lifestyle plan there is.  I was too stressed to do it while I was waiting to find out about A Crafty Killing's sales status.  Well, that stress is gone. I hate the thought of counting points and keeping a food diary, but . . . I want to lose weight because A) I'm vain and B) I don't want to end up with diabetes like my Dad and die a horrible death twenty-thirty years down the road.

The next Victoria Square book isn't coming out for a year.  That gives me a lot of time to keep pushing the first one, trying to find Lorna's readers and let them know and . . . hoping for the best.

So, I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off and starting over again.

What else can I do?

Did you really mean what you said?

Do you know what e readers call traditionally published books?  Dead tree books.

I've heard from many Booktown readers who tell me they would LOVE to read my Jeff Resnick series . . . if only they could hold it in their hands.  Smell the smell of a newly printed book, and keep it on their shelf forever.

Well, I've called your bluff.  The Jeff Resnick books are once again in print.  And for one of them, it's FINALLY in print.  And here they with a brief description and links to purchase:

Murder on the Mind
Print Version  $13.95, Trade paperback
Kindle ~ Nook ~ Sony E Reader ~ Smashwords ~ iPad
After a mugging in Manhattan leaves him with a broken arm and fractured skull, insurance investigator Jeff Resnick reluctantly agrees to recover at the home of his estranged half brother, Richard.  At first, Jeff believes his graphic nightmares of murder are just the workings of his traumatized mind.  But when a local banker is found dead, Jeff believes the attack has left him with a sixth sense--an ability to see murder before it happens.

Piecing together clues he saw in his dreams, Jeff attempts to solve the crime.  His brother Richard is skeptical, but unsettling developments begin to forge a tentative bond.  Soon, things that couldn’t be explained by premonition come to light, and Jeff finds himself probing into dangerous secrets that touch his own traumatic past in wintry Buffalo--where a killer is ready to darken Jeff’s visions permanently.

Dead In Red
Hardcover from my web site, postage paid, $11 media rate, $13 priority, $22 International
Sometimes it seems like murder and mayhem follow Jeff Resnick, challenging his psychic “sixth sense” to solve crimes.  Since the vicious mugging that changed his life, he’s tried to keep his unwanted gift in check.  But when a bartender at his favorite watering hole is murdered, visions of a sparkling red woman’s high-heeled shoe and a pair of bloody hands linger in his mind--and hit too close to home.  When Jeff’s older brother, Richard, last helped him with an investigation, it nearly cost him his life.  Still, Richard is determined to tag along as Jeff is drawn into the seamy world of fetishes and drag queens to find a murderer before another life is taken.


Dead In Red
Kindle
Nook
Sony E Reader
Smashwords
iPad
Kobo
Diesel
(Isn't this new cover intriguing?)





Cheated By Death
first time in print, $13.95 Trade paperback
Kindle ~ Nook ~ Sony e Reader ~ Smashwords ~ Kobo
In this third of a series, Jeff Resnick faces a new dilemma:  someone is stalking his sister-in-law, Brenda, who fears that violence from pro-life supporters will escalate near the womens clinic where she works. Or could the vandalism, threatening phone calls, and letters against her have come from her abusive ex-husband? Meanwhile, Jeff grapples with meeting his estranged father and the sister he never knew existed.





So, was it just talk, or will readers who don't have e readers embrace these books?

WORD OF WARNING:  These books are not cozy mysteries.  They're either psychological suspense or could be classed as a paranormal thriller.  It depends on who's making the classification.  But if you look at the Amazon reviews, you'll find they have mostly received five stars reviews.  No brag, just fact.

So, now that I've called your bluff, will you call mine?

A Good Night's Sleep

One of the things I've learned from watching GET IT SOLD is that kitchens and bathrooms sell homes, but beautiful bedding doesn't hurt.

I must admit, I love looking at catalogs that have sumptuous bedding.  But where do people put all those pillows at night?

I've been on a quest for a decent night sleep, and it's anything but beautiful.  I've got GERD--yup, acid reflux, and I've been in search of a good night's sleep for quite a while.  One of the suggestions is to elevate the head of the bed.  It worked for me.  For Mr. L--not so much.  In fact, it lasted two nights and down came the lifters.  (I suppose if we'd had a foot board it might've worked for him.  He kept sliding down the bed.)  So I bought a wedge pillow.  Worked for the GERD, but sleeping on that steep an angle put a lot of pressure on my hips.  (I sleep on my side(s).)

Next came the memory foam mattress topper.  My aunt told me she and my uncle get a good nights sleep since they bought a memory foam topper for their bed.  I was at my wit's end because it was to the point where I was sleeping in the leather chair with the weather channel on in the background and it was NOT working.

So I ordered a memory foam mattress topper.  First of all, it took three weeks to come.  When it came, the instructions said, "there will be a slight odor" and that you should unroll it and let it sit for several hours to dissipate.  Slight odor?  P.U.!!!  We let it sit for about five days before we could stand to be near it.  But finally I put it on the bed.  That sucker was HEAVY.  I needed help.

Our bed wasn't low to begin with, but once the topper was on it looked like a Princess and a Pea were likely to show up.  Our cat Chester started having jumping issues (which, seem to have cleared up) and we were worried he wouldn't make it onto the bed.

Commercials for memory foam mattresses show a glass of wine on one side of the bed and a kid jumping on the other and nothing disturbs the wineglass.  And it's true.  The only problem is, even with a couple of layers of bedding on the top, it's extremely difficult to turn over.  Therefore, you end up in one position for most of the night and -- guess what?  The very thing I bought it for (to relieve pressure on my hip) came right back.  (And the thing still had that "slight" odor, too.)

We lasted about three weeks with the topper and last night, even as supper was nearly done cooking, I decided it HAD to come off.  I went in there and wrenched the sheets, duvet and pillows off the bed and stripped it.  We tied the thing up and tossed it into our enclosed porch.

Goodbye Mr. $327 mistake.

Well, not really.  Our bed at our summer cottage is the lowest, most uncomfortable bed in the universe.  We're going to take Mr. Bed Topper there and see if it can live happily.  (Otherwise a new bed was on the shopping list anyway.)  If not . . . Well, trash pick up is on Tuesdays around here.

Meanwhile, last night I had the best night's sleep I had in a long, long, time.  I'm looking forward to tonight and hope to repeat it.

How about you?  What's your bed like?

And our top story today is . . .

Weee!  I'm happy to say that A Crafty Killing is #5 on the Barnes & Noble mystery list, and #22 overall for mass market paperbacks!

Today I've been interviewed on the World of Books blog.  I hope you'll check it out.

That's the good news.  The bad news?  I was originally told that the second book in the Victoria Square Mystery series (The Walled Flower) would be published in February 2012.  Next I was told it had been moved to the Fall of 2011.  (Yay!)  Now I'm told it's back to Febrary 2012. (Boo!)

That's a LONG time for readers to wait.  So I've decided to write a short story set in between the 1st and 2nd books that I will give away free on  my web site.  I'm in deadline hell right now, so can't work on it until spring (which isn't all that far away--thank goodness).  I'll keep you posted.

In other news, after a two-month wait, I finally have new checks!  The checkbook I lost is still lost, however.

More snow on the way.

What's happening in your world?

The time of his life . . .

Mr. L has been waiting for weeks to watch the super bowl. Not for the game. Maybe sort of for the commercials. But mostly he's been waiting to see the half-time show and The Black-Eyed Peas.

Now, if he were in his 20s--even in his 30s--I could see it. But he's not. He's a tad older than that. In fact, he's 16 years older than me!

I can't say I'm a fan. I mean, they're very LOUD. Mind you, I had my years of listening to loud music and I won't go into what bands they were. (I've already told you I feel OLD.)
But there was hubby watching and enjoying the show. Not only that, but he knew every song in their medley. I only knew one of their songs, the one that has part of the song from Dirty Dancing (Time of My Life) and the only reason I'm familiar with it is because he's played the video over and over again of late.

Not only does he know all the songs, he knows all the group member's bios, too.  He told me who everyone was, etc.  Of course, I'm not totally ignorant.  I've seen two segments on the group on CBS Sunday morning.  (Including yesterday morning.)

I remember my grandfather telling my dad how much he hated my music.  My dad was a musician (among his many other talents) and he was accepting of most music.  I like to think I am, too . . . but of late, loud is just . . . too loud.  (All those years of wearing earphones I guess.)  These days I like new age music.  I can have it in the background when I write.  It's usually quiet and soothing.

And I'm sure a lot of people would say it's BORING.

Boring = old.

*Sigh*

How about you?

And another of my books is (re)released . . .

It's been months and months since my agent first attempted to get the rights back for my 2nd Jeff Resnick book.

Guess what?

Dead In Red is Now available on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.  (Isn't the new cover neat?)

Unfortunately it takes WEEKS before Smashwords distributes the book to other venues (iPad, Sony ereader, Kobo, Diesel, etc.)  But there are apps available from Amazon and B&N that will allow readers to read books on other devices (such as Blackberries, etc.).

And guess what -- soon the Jeff Resnick books will be available in print, too.  I'll let you know when that happens, but in the meantime, if you've been waiting to read the 2nd Jeff Resnick book on your e reader, it's ready for you now.

No cannoli for you! (Or me.)

Last night I dreamed that I served chocolate cannoli at my launch/signing on Saturday for A Crafty Killing.  (Barnes & Noble, Greece Ridge Center, Saturday, Feb 5th 2-4 p.m.  I've got goodie bags for the first 25 people.)

This is unusual for two reasons.

First:  The bookstore doesn't like people to bring in food.  It interferes with sales in the Starbucks that's also inside the store, and they have a very nice glass case that's filled with incredibly fattening (and incidentally delicious) decadent desserts.

Second:  I don't like cannoli--chocolate or otherwise.  (I know, weird isn't it?)

For my very first signing, I baked about eight dozen toll house chocolate chip cookies.  It was held in a small indie bookstore in the boondocks and about a dozen of my loyal co-workers and friends showed up.  (And we forgot to bring our cameras.)  They ate less than a dozen cookies.  I had a second signing set up two weeks later, so the cookies went into the freezer and emerged on the morning of the second signing.  The co-workers who hadn't made it to the first signing came to that one . . . and ate less than a dozen cookies.

Oh dear.  Mr. L and I were FORCED (at knife point) to eat all the rest of those cookies.  (Well, I may have eaten more than my fair share . . . frozen.  With a cup of tea, they were just fine.)

So, five years later I don't bake for signings any more.  (Just as well, I don't need to eat dozens of damn fine cookies at a pop.)  That's why I switched to bringing goodie bags filled with non-fattening bookmarks and postcards.

Still, if you're in the mood to make the same cookies I used to bring to signings, I put the recipe up on my web site.  You see, now my heroine Katie makes the cookies and I get to live vicariously through your love of baking (and eating).  It's not as much fun for the taste buds, but it's better on the waistline.

You can find the recipe here.

Katie likes to bake.  Is there anything you'd like to see her bake in a future book?

HAPPY BOOK DAY TO ME!

Well, it certainly has been a long time coming but . . .

Happy Book Day To Me!!!

What book you ask?  Why, A Crafty Killing, of course.  And it's available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and just about every Internet retailer on the face of the planet.  Plus, it's available from many independent booksellers (and if they don't have it, they can order it!)  And it's available in every ebook format, too.


The last thing Katie Bonner wanted was to become the manager of Artisans Alley. But when her business partner, Ezra Hilton, is found lying at the bottom of a staircase, bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. A collection of booths for artisans and craft sellers in a renovated applesauce factory building, Artisans Alley is the main attraction in the quaint Victoria Square shopping area. But business under Ezra had been faltering.  While the cops are proceeding by the book, Katie is investigating by the booths—for the answer to the killer’s identity lies in the hidden secrets of Artisans Alley itself.


Not only is it MY Happy Book Day, it's also Happy Book Day for my friend and Cozy Chick colleague Heather Webber.  So while you're rushing out to get A Crafty Killing, grab a copy of Absolutely Positive.  It can be found at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the same places as my book.

Lucy Valentine is still searching for love—for her clients and for her self—and this time, she’s about to go public with her private displays of affection…

ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY

“Exposed” by a Boston Herald reporter, Lucy is suddenly the talk of the town. Long back-story short: Even though the rest of her Valentine ancestors were blessed by Cupid with psychic abilities, Lucy’s only special power lies in her ability to find things. This skill has proven quite a blessing for those who come to her matchmaking agency in search of finding their long-lost loves. Now that Lucy’s secret is out, she has more new clients than she knows what to do with. But soon a certain man of mystery steals Lucy’s spotlight…

Not my ankles!

I'm sure most of you have noticed that ... it's been a long, dark, COLD winter.  We keep the house at 70 and even that seems pretty cold most days.  So, a few weeks back, I decided to break out the thermal underwear . . .

. . . only to discover that I had left most of it at our summer cottage.  (It gets mighty cold there in April and in October.)

So, off I went to K-Mart and bought some Joe Boxer women's ANKLE LENGTH thermal pants.

The problem is, they don't reach my ankles.  They only reach mid-calf.
Sadly, I don't fit their typical body size.  I happen to have long legs, which means I can't buy pants in the regular women's section, unless I want to look like a doofus.  I have to buy "tall" items from a catalog.  And my favorite catalog is soon to be no more.  My mother told me that Penney's is going to discontinue their catalog.
My first thought was:  where will I get pants???

I have a feeling I'll be trolling the Internet for pants and hoping when I get them that they actually fit.

How about you--is there something you can't wear because your body doesn't fit some manufacturer's norm?

Everything covered in cheese . . .

Mr. L and I have decided to go on a diet.  Now, the best diet I have ever been on was Weight Watchers.  I lost about 25 and kept 15 of it off for about three years.  And then . . . life happened.

Dieting doesn't work.  We know this.  But we want to lose some weight and need a kick start.  Years ago I was on NutriSystem--three times.  I figured out which of their appalling foods I could eat on a regular basis and lost 40 lbs.  Of course the minute I came off the diet I gained it all back and then some.

A friend of mine tried NutriSystem last year.  It's different now.  The food comes to you.  And they force you to buy their special package for at least a month BEFORE they let you choose the foods you want.

Bottom line:  My friend lasted a week and then all the very expensive food was tossed out.  It was inedible.  When I was on the diet, I ate the hamburger five out of seven nights and never got tired of it and lost weight.

Everything seems to have pasta in it these days.  Neither my friend nor I particularly like pasta.
The current Reader's Digest has an article on dieting and explains why the Atkins/South Beach diets actually work.  The idea that cutting calories to the nub and then exercising until you're so hungry you'll eat your foot just doesn't make sense to me.  We know that when you eat protein for a meal, you usually aren't famished three hours later.  Therefore, today is day 3/4s of the diet.

Yup, no typo there.  We were going to start yesterday, but the fridge is full of all the wrong foods, so we're going to ease into it.

We did try Atkins a few years back and were so sick of meat after a week that we gave it up.  (Mr. L lost 8 lbs.  I lost nothing.  But I didn't gain anything, either.  So, we're game to try it or a version of it again.)

First up, an omelet for breakfast--with cheese.  Alas, no bread.  In fact, nothing "white" to eat except cauliflower--but we like cauliflower (especially with cheese).

Meanwhile, I'm going to be looking at menu plans and exploring the South Beach version of the diet.  (My friend Jenn said Atkins only works for men; South Beach works for women.  We'll see.)

So, what was your most successful diet?  And are you a yo-yo dieter?

A Week From Today

One week from today, A Crafty Killing will be "officially" released.  I say officially because I've already heard from one reader that she bought a copy in her local Barnes & Noble.

I've spent the weekend (and another chunk of yesterday) putting address  labels and stamps on postcards.  They're going in the mail TODAY!

I'm getting really nervous because there's a lot riding on this book.  Maybe not so much for my publisher--they already seem to have a lot of confidence in the book.  They upped the print run by 5500 copes MORE than the original print run for Chapter & Hearse (which has already been reprinted).  But it's that difference of names that's dogging me.
I know, I know--I've been complaining about it for over a year.  And I've worked really hard to try to get the name out.

I'll find out on February 9th if all that hard work will have paid off.  Will the book hit the New York Times bestsellers list--even at in an extended spot, or will it just lie there like a gasping fish?

It's going to be a LONG two weeks.

Meanwhile, life goes on.  Still working on Booktown #6, thinking about starting the synopsis for #7 (I already have a good idea where that's going to go) and jumping into Victoria Square #3 once March rolls around.
Will Chapter & Hearse follow Bookplate Special and be nominated for an Agatha Award, or will it be ignored.  (I have to believe the latter.  I've seen a bunch of "Best Of 2010" lists and Chapter & Hearse wasn't on any.  *Sob*)

Getting geared up for Malice Domestic 2011.  It'll be at a new (to me) hotel.  Exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.  Then it'll be off to the Festival of Mystery in Oakmont, PA.  What a fun week.  I'll get to see my editor, my agent, and a whole bunch of my friends.

Getting psyched for spring.  What shall I plant in my veggie garden this year?

Getting ready for the summer!  NO SNOW--for months and months on end!!!  What a concept!

Lots to think about.  Lots to ponder.

But the next two weeks are still going to take forever.

What's penciled in on your calendar for the next six months?

Nothing to worry about . . . NOT!

This blog post is late today because  . . . I spent a good chunk of this morning on a hunt for the missing checkbook.

It should have been in my purse.

It is not.

The I last time I saw it was almost a week ago when I did the grocery shopping -- and when I wrote the last check.

The grocery store says they didn't find it.


It's not in my car.

It's not in my coat pocket.

It's lost.

Again.

You see, I did the same thing about two years ago.

So far, Mr. L has not yelled at me.  (And he probably won't.)

I feel awful.  And it means a trip to the bank to cancel the checking account and open a new one.  (So far no one else has found it and forged a check.)

As my character Katie Bonner would say:  "Swell."

Have you ever lost something this important?

When the author breaks loose ....

Today is the second errand day of the week.  Wednesday's errands started off with turmoil because it was snowing.  Supposed to be sleeting.  I didn't want to go, but Mr. L said the weather might get worse.

Grrrr.

Left the house with a cloud of blue above me (um...my language was a tad salty.  Hey, I worked production in a machine shop for 18 months.  I earned every one of those blue words).  But I still had a Christmas CD on in my car so by the time I hit the high school (about a minute into my grocery store commute), I had cheered up considerably.  The fact that the roads had been heavily salted and were merely wet made my joy complete.

Still, I thought I deserved a treat for braving the winter chill and stocking up on supplies in case we were snowed in for a month.  Important stuff like cat treats, cat litter, gummy orange slices, ham hocks and guitar strings.

I wasn't about to treat myself to a package of Vienna Fingers or Nutter Butter cookies.  One of the hazards of authordom is a widening buttox, from which I already suffer greatly.  So, I stayed right out of the cookie aisle.  But still, I deserved a treat for mushing to the store to keep my tiny family (two people and four cats) from starvation.

And then I saw it (actually THEM):  Two twirly racks of SEEDS
.
Seeds!!!!!

Seeds mean spring is coming.  Seeds mean life returns to the once-frozen earth.  Seeds mean veggies fresh from the garden.

Only . . . I couldn't decide what to get, and it's really far too early to start plants for outside. So I settled on a package of cilantro.  Weee, I'm planting cilantro that can live happily on my kitchen window sill!  When I have leaves, I can cut them and put it on my Aloo Matar!  I could toss it on a taco!  Weeee!

Today my mother has a doctor's appointment and she was told it would take at least 90 minutes.  As designated daughter, it's my duty to take her there.  But I have errands to run.  I'm heading to K-Mart for long underwear (if they still have any).  Got a post office run to make.  And, the craft store has stickers on sale for a buck!

Yes, you know your life is boring when $1 stickers can actually entice you.

And when I get back, I'll jump back into the book.  There's a teensy problem with . . . oops--can't say it.  Spoiler alert!

What tiny thing in your life brings you joy that can compare to $1 stickers?

Just part of the job . . .

When I was a little kid, I watched Captain Kangaroo.  So sue me!  It seemed like they had a lot of features that played over and over again.  They did things live (or almost) in those B&W days of television, so who knows.  It got really boring, even if you're only four or five.

One of the regular features I always found tedious was some guy spinning plates on a stick.

I mean REALLY, spinning plates on sticks!  This guy got a regular paycheck from the Captain for this boring, boring act.  I watched because in those days there was nothing else on for a kid to watch until late afternoon when reruns of the Mickey Mouse club came on.  That was boring, too, but it was better than soap operas.  (At least if you're five.)

These days my life feels like I'm spinning plates (or as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, running in on a hamster wheel).  I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to catch up.  I'll always be a day late and a dollar short.  I won't be able to keep the plates spinning and they'll all crash and break and there'll be a big mess to clean up. 

The book has been going well, but slow, and suddenly I'm running out of days to finish it, and then must immediately jump into the next book.  Except that I'm deep into promoting A Crafty Killing, too.  (Thousands of postcards are about to arrive.  I've got address labels and stamps to put on them.  Oy!  Where is the time going to come from to do it and have it done by next week when they MUST go out??)

I have come to the conclusion that I must step up production on the book.  That's okay today, because I mapped out about six more scenes before I got up this morning.  (Yeah, at 4 a.m.)  But what happens when I finish writing those scenes?


Okay, I'm complaining and I'm not complaining.  I love this job.  I love just about every aspect of it. I just wish I had time to enjoy some of it.

End of venting.

How about you.  What is it about your job that you love and hate at the same time?

"And don't forget to brush your teeth!"

You might think that mystery authors are as unemotional about death as their characters might seem to be.  In a cozy mystery the women sleuths (and some men) need to find a body (and sometimes more) in every book.  They have to be brave and touch the corpse (well, to find out if they're indeed dead or alive--and it's usually a stranger or someone they didn't like to begin with).  And then they push and push until justice is served.

Yup.  That's how a character has to be.

In real life, I am no such character.  I take real death pretty hard, probably because I have had so few close friends and family die on me.  Until lately.
I lost my Dad last year and it was devastating to me.  We were very close.
Over the summer, two friends died.  Granted, I hadn't seen then in nearly 20 years, but they were my peers and the first of our group to die.  (One was older than me by four years, but the other was younger by five.  That's scary.)

Since my Dad died, I've taken to reading the obits.  There's so much of the story the casual reader doesn't know, although lately the paid-for obits have been getting pretty lengthy.  I tend to read the ones with pictures more than the ones without, just because they're a little more personal.

So imagine my shock when I opened to the obits last night and there was my friend Judy staring me in the face.  "OMG--Not Judy!" I cried to my husband.  (She was the same age as him, which hit me doubly hard.)

Judy and I met when we were both vendors at a local antiques arcade.  I was a cashier and Judy was often my wrapper.  A first glance at Judy was rather startling, because the entire side of her face was slack.

 All these years later, I can't remember if she had a stroke or if she had an accident.  You see, it didn't matter.  Judy was one of the funniest ladies I ever met.  The evenings were worked were a delight.  That woman knew how to laugh! She was a retired dental hygienist and was famous for giving out toothpaste for Halloween.  She bought the little sample sized stuff by the case and she always had leftovers after October 31st so she'd press a tube in your hand and say, "Don't forget to brush your teeth!"

After she left the business, we kept in touch.  She was a voracious reader and would sell me her old paperbacks.  (I had a section of my booth dedicated to used books.  And you wondered why I knew so much about the business that I could write about it in the Booktown Mysteries.)  One time I even came to her house. She decided to downsize and still had a lot of stuff left from her vendor days.  We came to a deal and I bought a car load for my booth.  (I still have a couple of things I couldn't part with.)

Judy was one of my staunchest local supporters.  She didn't make it to many of my signings because she was on the go, taking a cruise and doing other things, but she when she couldn't make it, I'd get an email and she often had me leave a signed book at the store.

I last saw her in August at my signing for Chapter & Hearse and she was the same ball of fire she always was.  At least, that's how it seemed to me.  So to see her half-smiling picture in the paper threw me.

Good-bye, Judy.  I'll miss your laugh.  Thank you for being my friend.

For the Girlie Girl in me ..,

By the time A Crafty Killing comes out (in two weeks--GAK!), I'll have been sitting on it for two years since I sighed the contract.  That's a L-O-N-G time to think about the whole series concept.

I admit it, I wrote the book(s) for a number of reasons, but I think the biggest one was because it would give me the chance to potentially write something "girlie."

Ever since I discovered country (or rather eclectic) decorating, I've wanted to immerse myself into pure girlishness.  Not so easy when you've been a tomboy all your life.  And the truth is, I'll never be a clothes horse and I can't be bothered to hand wash my good dishes.  But I like having this kind of stuff and admiring it.  (And I love reading magazines like Victoria, Romantic Homes, etc.


I figured if I ever sold the Victoria Square books it would be a license to be girlie.  Whoo-hoo!  I intend to have fun with this, and since I love most things Victoriana, I've allowed myself to dip my toe into it.

One thing I did was order calling cards.  Talk about restrictive -- they only let you have so many characters per line, so I had to be judicious.  And I wanted them to be generic enough that I could use them for the life of the series, because how the heck am I going to get rid of 500 of them?  So far I've given away zip!  But I am taking them to my book launch on Feb. 5th--so anybody who wants one then can have one.  And I might start adding them to my goody bags.  (Truth be told, when the bags were put together for the book launch--gulp--I forgot about them.)

So what do you think?  What else can I do that's girlie?

And this is why I did it . . .

There was a day when I would never have considered self-publishing.  Those days are gone.  Does that mean I'm going to stop publishing with a big New York publisher?

No way!

Contrary to what Joe Konrath (Big Time Kindle Author) says, not everybody has had his success on Amazon.  But self-publishing for established authors makes sense for several reasons:

• Getting your out-of-print books (and short stories) back in circulation
• Finishing a series that has been canceled for lack of sales by a big publisher
• Writing the kinds of books you want to write that big publishers say they can't sell

In my case, I decided NOT to go back to my small publisher with the third (and 4th) books in my Jeff Resnick series.  The rights were tied up for too long, and they only marketed to libraries.  Libraries can be a big market -- or they might not.  There are thousands of libraries across the world--thousands more than wanted to buy my books.  I believe I can (eventually) sell more copies myself.

Two of the Jeff Resnick books are available as Kindle downloads.  Plenty of people have asked me why I didn't make them available as "regular" books.  Well, it's going to happen, but the process is taking much longer than I would have thought.  Part of the problem is I'm working full time on books for my big NY publisher.  I've got a contract with them, they're paying me, they get first shot with my time.

For another thing ... will anyone actually buy the books once they're available in print?  Experience (not mine, but other authors who've done this) says not exactly.  A friend of mine has made her out-of-print books available as trade paperbacks and reports she sells a few every month.  People aren't crashing down her door looking for those books.  She sells far more of the (cheaper) Kindle versions.  Therefore, my expectations are not great either.  Still, for those who are interested, I do want to make the books available.

So . . . I've uploaded the first of the four books to CreateSpace and even as I type this, my proof copy is in the making.  I probably won't see it until next week, and they've already said there's a glitch with the cover.  (I'm working with my cover designer to resolve that.)

It will probably take at least another month before all the wrinkles are ironed out and the books are available, and when they are--I'll let you know

In the meantime, are any of you interested in reading my out-of-print Jeff Resnick books?

No time!!!

It's time for another "not enough hours in the day" blog post, because . . .

THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY!!!

I feel like I'm falling behind in just about everything I do.  My to-do list never seems to get shorter.

If there were enough hours in the day, I could:

work on more than one book at a time
do laundry before I run out of something
work on promotion
do more baking
go shopping
shovel more snow
clean the house
brush the cats more often
READ FOR PLEASURE
take up a hobby

What would you do?

A Good Night's Sleep. Is It Overrated?

I've never been a good sleeper.  I often wake up for several hours during the night and read or just toss and turn.  I caught a cold over Christmas and made the mistake of sitting up in a chair on the worst nights when I was so stuffed that I couldn't breathe.

Guess what?  I'm now stuck in a rerun of sleepless nights.  We're talking EVERY NIGHT for almost three weeks now.  I've been averaging between 4 and 5 hours of sleep a night--on a good night.
Quite frankly, I'm pooped!

I've got some tried and true home remedies that I should have been using:  hot milk with nutmeg or Ovaltine have always been my middle of the night friends.  But have I gone to the microwave to heat up the milk?  Nope.  I kept thinking if I saw the same boring newscast on our 24 hours news station or kept watching the same forecasts on the Weather Channel that it would bore me to sleep. Nope!  Right now I know far more than I really need to about the amount of snow in Revere, MA hundreds of miles to the east of me, thank you very much.

But I've had it.  Tonight if I can't sleep, I'm hauling out the Ovaltine.

What do you do when you can't sleep?

Not my typical day . . .

Yesterday was a good day.  Before lunch, I wrote 422 words.

Mr. L took me out to lunch at Wegman's new FOOD BAR restaurant.  They changed a lovely restaurant (Tastings) into a burger joint.  About the only thing that remains are the zucchini fries. (Heaven.)  Was it good?  Yes, it was good.  Was it worth nearly $18 for two burgers and two orders of zucchini fries?  No.  Will we go back?  Maybe ... but only for the zucchini fries.

Went to Barnes & Noble  in the same plaza -- just to check up on my Booktown Mysteries.  Hmm.  Only five copies of four titles, which I signed.  (I am extremely spoiled by my "home" B&N in Greece Ridge Center because the CRM keeps her shelves well stocked with my titles.  We're talking up to 10+ of each.  I love you Rebecca!!!)  But, I did have a very brief but pleasant conversation with one of their sales associates who was about to go to lunch.  I asked if she could see if the store had ordered copies of A Crafty Killing (which comes out on February 1st--hint, hint).  She looked it up, blinked a couple of times, and said, "Twenty four copies.  That's a LOT!"  (It was all I could do NOT to break into a Snoopy happy dance right there and then.)

Then we went to Michaels and I raided their $1 racks.  I am such a sucker for blank note cards and such.  (And yes, I just visited my Greece Michaels last week and bought more stuff.)  This time I bought myself a little tote bag for Malice Domestic. (I had a wonderful small canvas bag that I was given by the Mystery Lovers Bookshop after their Festival of Mystery (if you have never gone-GO!!!) in 2009 and lost last year at the Malice Domestic conference.  (I could've cried!!!) I got a few other things, too.  (Fun stuff.  Hey, I deserve it!)

We got home and I wrote another 800 words and an email to my editor.  In it I happened to ask what my print run was for A Crafty Killing.  A while later the phone rang.  Yes--it was from NY and it was my editor!!!  He decided to answer my print run question in person.  Whoa!  It's 5000 more than the print run for Chapter & Hearse. (He actually said he was ASTOUNDED to learn that.  Hey, no more than me.)  That means my publisher (or at least their marketing department) thinks A Crafty Killing should do well.  (I certainly have my fingers crossed.  I need a new hot water heater and a few other repairs to be made to the house.)

Let's summerize the day:

Got my word count for the day.  (YEA!)
Got taken to lunch.  (YEA!)
Found out a store where I won't be signing is buying half a case of books.  (YEA!)
Found out my print run would be higher than for Chapter & Hearse.  (YEA!)

and -- as an added bonus it did NOT snow and no cats puked on the carpet or wood floors for the entire day.

Yup.  I'd say that was a good day.

How was your day?

(P.S.  Weather went down the toilet.  It's snowing and we might get another 5 inches added to the 4 that fell overnight.  Oh well, you can't have everything.)

And you thought being an author was all glamour

I've been in procrastination mode lately, and I was falling behind on the new book.  So, early to bed, early to rise, early to the page . . .

The writing day did not start out well.  in fact, by the time I'd been at it an hour, I had about 100 words.  Oh dear.  Then came lunch--my favorite meal of the day.  Finished reading the paper while I chowed down on curried black beans and rice and then showed up at the lap top once more.

And played about ten games of Solitaire.  And felt guilty because I wasn't working.

Then I lost my Internet signal.  For about half an hour.  PANIC!  PANIC!  I must know what's going on in my tiny world.  I must not miss one email.  I must be able to access Facebook at all moments of the day!!!

After messing around with the router, I got it back again.  Whew.  Dodged a bullet.

Back to work.  This time, I exited the Solitaire game.  For good. (Well, for the day.)

Wrote a sentence.  Checked my email.  Wrote a sentence.  Checked facebook.  Wrote a sentence, did a piece of research.  Wrote a sentence.  Ripped some hair from my head.

The problem is/was -- I had no fresh ideas.  I had to get Tricia and Angelica from one scene to the next. Scenes A and C were written.  I just had to connect them.

So I tossed in something unexpected.  Whoa!  That worked like a charm.

Bottom line:  the first 750 words of the day took five hours to write.  The next 1100 words took half an hour to write.

Why can't I have more half hours like that one?

Summer on my mind

Well, here we are on January 7th and I'm pretty much fed up with winter.  I'm tired of being cold.  I've been cold since late October and it's getting really old.

About now I start pining for my summer cottage (where it's usually too hot).  I start thinking about the wonderful view (which about now is totally gray/white:  gray sky, gray ice (where the nice blue water is during the summer) and white ground where the snow is. And the snow is probably a couple of feet deep about now, too.

But my head is in April.  Or, at least March.

We had to cut our season short in early October because the water heater died.  Well, it was 30+ years old. As our plumber told us, it was the equivalent of a 10 year old water heater in that for most of its life it was drained and out of use for at least seven months of the year.  But now we need a new one and we didn't see the need to buy one for a couple of weeks only to drain it again.

I like to start going back to the cottage in mid-April.  It's cold there, too.  But now we have baseboard heat and running water (I hate paying for it, but I love municipal water) and it can be quite pleasant.  I'll call the plumber in mid-March and order that water heater (which doesn't look like a conventional one--it's short and squat and lives above the shower).

I have several projects I'd like to complete this summer.  Last year we did a bathroom face lift.  This year it's the kitchen that will be in line for a little cosmetic treatment.  (A real ceiling and some new lights.  Maybe a skylight???)  And I'm thinking about getting a new rug in the living room.

So while it's still winter here at home, it's summer at the cottage in my mind.

I can't wait to go.

Are you dreaming about summer already?