Black (and white) Friday

At least, for me. If you follow me on Facebook, you saw that I was working on revisions for YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW over the holiday weekend. And I've gotta say, even though revisions aren't usually all that fun, I think they're way more fun than being pepper sprayed! After I heard about that I vowed to NEVER to go out on Black Friday. Some deals just aren't worth it.....

July 2012

But with the revisions for YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW wrapped up and back in my editor's hands, I can get back to hangin' with Pescoli and Alvarez. Those two keep me on my toes, with Pescoli and her trouble with her two kids (we won't even start with her ex and his new wife......). And then there's Alvarez and all the skeletons in her closet, yikes!! Seriously, though, these are two of my all-time faves, and I love writing about them.

June 2012

AFRAID TO DIE is out next June, and while that seems a ways off now, I know it'll be here sooner than I think! And of course with everything that goes along with the holidays, a little shopping, a little celebrating, I won't get as much done as I've planned. Which makes me think.......hmmmmm......resolutions.........

Thanksgiving Week

It's a short week, so that's a plus. I get to spend time with all those people I love so much! My niece, her husband and kids come up from Southern California. My boys and their families join in. We all usually end up at my sister's house with a few other family members and maybe even a few friends for a genuine feast!

This year I am thankful for so much, my family, friends, my health..... But I am also so thankful to have finished YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW (and truth be told, I think my editor is pretty thankful for that, too!). I can say I will thouroughly enjoy the holiday knowing that that is checked of my list! I really had a lot of fun with this one, but it's holiday time, and then onto the next!!

This year we'll try something new, a turducken (I'm not sure if that's even how you spell it??). My son, who's a trained chef, had the idea, and my family is usually up for just about anything, so we said, go for it!! For those of you unfamiliar, and I was until he explained it to me, a turducken is a turkey stuffed with a duck that's stuffed with a chicken. Ok, I think that's right.... Anyway, should be an adventure, and who knows, maybe a new tradition!

I would love to hear about your holiday traditions, let me know some of your favorites! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! And for any of you braving Black Friday, good luck! You won't catch me out that day!!

OMG! Christmas Music Already?!

OK, don't get me wrong, I'm all about Christmas. A couple of my favorite detectives, Pescoli and Alvarez, have solved some of their toughest cases between buying Christmas gifts and shoveling their driveways. I've never been, but Montana in the winter is on my bucket list.

Hot Buttered Rum by a warm cozy fire, time spent with family and friends, and I do love Christmas Music. But there is something about Christmas music in early November that just doesn't seem right.

It seems like each year Christmas creeps up on Thanksgiving, and now even Halloween. Some of the stores had Christmas merchandise right along side the Halloween. Personally, Halloween is my absolute favorite and so I don't want to gloss over it on the way to Christmas. I think it deserves it's own celebration!

Bring on the Christmas music--but wait until December! Or even after Thanksgiving. Plus, can you really listen to Christmas music for two whole months??

OK, OK, so enough of me on my soap box. Just a little vent I had to get off my chest. But, I'm not the only one who feels this way......

(Nordstrom is one of my faves and yes, this was from a couple of years ago!)

Autumn Has Arrived

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year! Why you ask? Because......

The Holiday season has begun

Bright crisp mornings

Mulled wine

Mist rising from the lake
Eerie nights

Falling leaves

Corn mazes

Burning candles

Big pots of hot, spiced cider and even hotter soup

A great time to work and get into the creepiness of a book

I bought a pumpkin spice candle to create the ambiance in my office and I am hard at work on YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW. Halloween has past, Thanksgiving is on the horizon, what a wonderful time of year!

Vacation=Insipration

I took a wonderful vacation with my family this past week. We rented a big house so we could all stay together, had great weather, and just enjoyed a nice, relaxing week. I had promised myself and my family that I would NOT work while on vacay....... But I had a terrible-a-little-too-close-to-home dream the first night, so I did end up doing a ((little)) work

I often get questions about how I get ideas for my books, so here ya go. I think the cool, crisp mountain air must have contributed to the idea. But, I never know when an idea is going to come to me, and so I have to run with it when it does! And run, I did. I worked early in the mornings, before everyone else was awake so I could spend the rest of the day having fun. But I got a pretty good start on a proposal for my editor, so stay tuned, I'll let you know more about it as it's developed, but I think it's going to be a really creepy one!

Pretty weird that having a nightmare is a good thing!

The three Ws

Weddings, Wine and Writing, that is. 

I was down in Sonoma last weekend for a wedding. And what a great weekend it was, well until we went to the airport to head home and were delayed for hours!! But we did make it back, and safely none-the-less, so more about the wedding.....

It was a beautiful venue on a beautiful summer evening, everything was, well, beautiful. Now, I never payed much attention to the details at weddings until my son got married. That was....oh my gosh......over THREE years ago!! It just doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but I guess it also doesn't seem like that long ago I was celebrating my 35th (gasp!) birthday.

Well, anyway my wedding radar is back in full force because my other son will be getting married next year, so I'm on the lookout for interesting details and any pointers anyone has to offer. They do have a wedding coordinator, so I'm sure they're way ahead of me on all of this, but hey, I like to feel like I'm helping out. One thing I did really love about this wedding was the color scheme, deep, rich fall colors. Fall is my favorite time of year for just that reason.

And we thought since we were in wine country, we better check out some wineries. My favorite was Castello di Amorosa. This winery is nestled behind the walls of a castle, which really took me back to the days I wrote Medievals and Historical Romance.

A great weekend, but now back to reality and writing.......

Business AND Pleasure??

While I was in London vacationing and visiting my publisher, it was suggested that I do a few book videos for the Australian and New Zealand editions of some of my upcoming books.  Sounded good to me.  Why not?  Well, because I wasn’t prepared.  Scratch that.  Make it—I REALLY was not prepared.

But I was in.

Of course I wanted to look a little different in each video, but my choices for mixing it up weren’t so hot.  I collected a few of the nicer clothes I’d brought, then mixed and matched them with some of my agent’s outfits, and “winged it.”  No script, no inspiration, no questions—just “Tell the readers/viewers something unique about the book.”

Gulp.  Four different books.  All that I’d written months and years earlier.  Sure.  OOOO—kaaaay.

I wracked my brain and here’s the video, the one we came up with for BORN TO DIE. Please note that I’m wearing my agent’s jacket and her necklace.  (They’re nice . . . maybe I should have accidentally put them into my suitcase!) 

And just so you know--(as if you couldn’t guess!) there were no makeup artists, or hair stylists, or scripts or anything but someone from the publicity department and a hand held camera—the kind I use to take pictures of my dogs!

Talk about flying by the seat of my pants! (Or my agent’s, in this case!)

Note to self for the next trip:  Don’t forget the hairspray!