Hijinks, Hilarity and Heart
Next week, I’ve got not one, but two releases!
On the 22nd the audiobook version of “Gently Used, Still Works” book 2 in the Psychic Consignment Mystery series will be released by Tantor Media.
Then on the 24th the 30th book in the Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series, “The Hitwoman’s Girls’ Night Out” will be released.
Meanwhile book 31 in the series is with my editor and I’ve started work on book 32. Whew!
The first of the Psychic Consignment Mysteries, ONE WOMAN’S JUNK has been released in audiobook format!
When their beloved godmother, Letty, dies suddenly, the Concordia sisters converge on the beach town of Sarasota, Florida, to mourn the passing of the woman who raised them. While there, they must scatter her ashes as instructed and decide what to do with her consignment shop, One Woman’s Junk.
Navigating her relationships with her older sisters is hard enough for Beatrice, but after they’re all struck by lightning, things get more complicated in the land of sun and sand. With the power of a newly inherited crystal ring, Bea is suddenly assailed by psychic visions when she touches certain objects.
When her godmother is posthumously accused of having stolen a designer purse (which Bea knows darn well is a knock-off—thank you very much), Bea becomes obsessed with proving her innocence.
Contending with a physical injury, challenging family dynamics, and business headaches, Bea struggles to harness and understand her visions.
With the help of an unusual new “friend” and the sexy carpenter next door, she’s determined to clear Letty’s good name. But doing so may be a bad decision. One that could cost her not only her relationship with her sisters . . . but her life.
There’s soooo much I want to do in 2022!
I’ve got a couple of doozies like publishing 6 or 7 books and buying a house.
I also have some easier fun ones like, starting each day with a positive quotation, reading a poem-a-day (thanks to the Poetry Foundation for sending those), trying 22 new-to-me soup recipes, participating in a photo challenge, and creating a blackout poem daily.
Blackout poetry consists of taking a text (I use pages from a book that was falling apart) blacking out a bunch of it and what’s left is your “poem”. For me it’s a no-pressure way to jumpstart creativity. Here’s the first I did this year:
And the first soup I made this year was this carrot-ginger-coconut milk concoction. It was….okay (then again, I don’t love carrots).
The first quote I read this year was from Ralph Waldo Emerson: Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
I’ll try to remember to check in regularly with updates on the trail I’m blazing through 2022.
I ended the year with the release of book 29 in the Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series, The Hitwoman Plays Courier.
No good deed goes unpunished.
When Maggie Lee helps an old man who’s fallen, she ends up working as a courier for his well-to-do son.
Proud of herself for landing a legitimate job that doesn’t involve a windowless office, Maggie ignores red flags and the concerns of God that all may not be what it seems. She’s too busy traversing the landmines of literacy involving a certain mobster’s grandson and juggling the two men who both want more from their relationships with her.
Maggie’s already stressed out when things go wrong, really wrong, with a delivery. A man’s dead and the police know about her involvement with him.
With the help of her pets and the two men vying for her affections, Maggie must figure out what the heck is going on…or God may be lost forever.
And I’m starting the new year with the announcement that Tantor Media has purchased the audio rights for the Psychic Consignment Mystery series. One Woman’s Junk will be out later this month!
You can hear a sample here.
Something Old, Something New is out tomorrow!
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’m hoping to visit Red Bug Slough to celebrate. It’s one of my favorite spots in Sarasota…which is why so many important scenes in the Psychic Consignment Mystery series take place there.
It’s one of Smudge’s favorite spots too because they have good climbing trees, lol.
As usual, I’m juggling multiple projects. There’s the release tomorrow, I’m working on the story edits of the fourth Cursed Chicks Club book, and I’m closing in on finishing the first draft of what will be the 27th Hitwoman story!
Right now I’m performing this juggling act while riding a unicycle — more about that soon, lol.
I’ve been writing up a storm!
I sent book four in my Cursed Chicks Club series to my story editor this week. This is my wackiest series and I have so much fun writing the magic and mayhem!
I’ll be putting it up for preorder soon. The cover is soooo great. I’ll be sharing that too. It features a dragon and an eggbeater. (Have I mentioned this is my wackiest series? lol)
Meanwhile I’m gearing up for the release of Something Old, Something New the next story in the Psychic Consignment Mysteries.
AND….I’m plotting Hitwoman 27!!!
My favorite part of writing a book is the last few chapters.
Some writers love plotting, some adore the very first scene, some love editing. (I’ve never known anyone who enjoys writing the middle of a book….pretty much everyone hates it.)
Me? I love those last few chapters. I love tying together all the threads I’ve been weaving through the manuscript and delivering an ending that hopefully delivers a satisfying conclusion of the story and an emotional payoff for the reader.
I recently finished the story edits for Something Old, Something New and I was soooo pleased to read the multiple notes from my editor from her second read-through which said, “I missed this the first time” about a payoff near the end of the book.
It meant I pulled off what I was trying to do…and that’s an awesome feeling.
Right now I’m finishing the draft of the next Cursed Chicks Club book. Trying to work some end-of-book magic with that too.
Love is in the salty, sea air of Sarasota, Florida.
But so is murder.
The Concordia sisters, owners of the One Woman’s Junk consignment shop are up to their eyeballs in trouble as they try to help their friends, solve a murder and plan a wedding. All while managing not to kill each other, offend any of their wacky clientele, or wreck their own love lives.
I write a lot of books.
I also drink a lot of coffee, as evidenced by the fact I’ve received this shirt, not once, but twice since March.
(For the record, I like more than three people…but I won’t give an actual number.)
Right now I’m drinking my coffee and playing the part of a hermit because I’m completing the edits for Something Old, Something New which is coming out next month AND I’m finishing writing Cursed Chicks 4 which should be a July release. (I haven’t finished the book’s blurb yet, so it’s not up for preorder yet.)
Writing skill I do not possess: Remembering names
I’ve only written a few chapters of The Hitwoman Owes a Favor and I’ve already called a new character by three different names. (Pity my editors who have to put up with me.)
As an aside: I wrote ALL of One Woman’s Junk, the first in the Psychic Consignment Mystery series with TWO of the main characters having completely different names than in the published version.
Besides my issue with names, the manuscript is coming along. Today I added 3326 words.(goal for the day was 3200 so yay! win!)
I edited yesterday’s work today and here was my favorite line:
“Bickering is a kind of foreplay for us.”