So excited to share the cover and blurb of THE HITWOMAN’S JUGGLING ACT , the 20th story in the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN series.
You know things are out of hand in Maggie Lee’s world when the least of her problems is tripping over a body.
Her family has lost their home.
Her friend, Armani, has lost her psychic mojo.
And Maggie’s in danger of losing custody of her niece.
Making matters even worse is she can’t refuse the latest job from her mobster boss. Not to mention she must team up with her murder mentor, Patrick Mulligan, and that’s….complicated.
Innocents are at risk, lives are in danger, and a family secret could change everything.
what I love
I walk alone
One of the reasons I chose to go to North Carolina in mid-April was that I miss Spring.
There are some really great things about living in southwestern Florida, but one of the negatives is that we don’t really have a a change of seasons. I wanted that, so I went out and found it for myself.
I spent a good deal of time on my writing retreat on hiking trails.
I realize that could sound counter-intuitive to getting writing done, but it’s actually a huge help. Being out in nature always fuels my creativity and helps me come up with new ideas.
The act of walking tends to help me sort through the jumble of ideas I’ve got tangled up in my head.
When I was walking with Donna of Girl Who Reads we came across this:
I must admit that I didn’t follow its advice. I hiked for miles alone. (Well, the dog was with me, but she’s no Lassie….if I fell and needed help, she wasn’t going to go find Timmy for me.)
Because I’d seen that sign, I did find myself humming Green Day’s “I walk alone” on a pretty continuous loop.
So if you see a character named Greenday in one of my future works, you’ll know where it came from…. 😉
Lunch with a Book Blogger
I stopped in Georgia on my way to my writing retreat for a very special reason.
I REALLY wanted to meet Donna, who runs the fabulous GIRL WHO READS book blog.
Donna was one of the first reviewers to write a review of my first book, THE FIRST VICTIM back in 2011 and she’s reviewed every one of my books since.
Thankfully, considering there was a storm, including a tornado watch (gulp!) Donna was super flexible about meeting with me. We met at a park, so that I could bring my dog, Smudge along, after the storm broke.
Donna made us a delicious picnic lunch and we just had the best time, talking and walking and laughing for hours. She’s smart, charming and so much fun!
Z is or ZANY — A-Z Challenge
I have so much fun making the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN books zany.
I love it so much that it says right in my business plan that I want to “write more zany misadventures for Maggie and the gang”.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this kind of zany month on the blog. I think I’ll focus on a different kind of shenanigans in May.
For more zaniness be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook!
W is for Writing — A-Z Challenge
A reader recently asked how I became a writer so this is going to be my rambling attempt to answer that.
The short answer is: “I failed….a lot.”
And if anyone ever asked me advice on how to become a writer, that’s the advice I would give… “Fail….a lot.”
But that’s probably not the answer anyone wants to hear.
I wanted to be a writer from the time I was a young child. If the assignment in class was to draw a picture, I’d write a short story or poem instead. (Not surprisingly, this means I have no artistic talent. One of my goals for the year is to learn to draw. So far I’m failing. A lot.)
I kept on writing.
There were times when I thought my way “in” was through non-fiction, so I spent years writing magazine articles, essays and website content. Eventually I decided it was more fun to make things up. I tried my hand at short stories and flash fiction, but they weren’t the best fit for me.
(Do you see the line of failures I’d been racking up?)
I found a class at a local theater and tried my hand at screenwriting. I really, really loved that because I could use my strengths of plotting and dialogue. I wrote a number of scripts. I was part of a critique group. I placed well in some contests. I had an agent. I optioned a couple of screenplays. One of my works was workshopped.
But I wasn’t in the right place/situation in my life to break into Hollywood.
Another failure.
Eventually I turned to novel writing. While I was able to carry many lessons I’d learned forward, like everything else, it required learning a new skill set. I wrote books. I attended conferences. I had critique partners.
I sent more than one hundred queries before I landed my first agent. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to sell that book. (This failure REALLY hurt.) So I pitched her, face-to-face, the idea for what would become CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN. To say that she looked appalled by my idea of a hitwoman with a heart of gold who can talk to animals, is an understatement.
Since I didn’t feel like she was invested in my vision, I left her. (And hey, because I’m stubborn and believed in myself, I eventually sold that first book on my own. So please know that failure isn’t fatal, sometimes it’s just a matter of timing and having the stars align. It also helps to have a flexible idea of what you consider “success” to be.)
It took another hundred queries or so to land my second agent, who sold both Confessions and Further Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman. (See the Q is for Query post.)
They basically failed too, in that they did not find an audience. (But see N is for Neurotic to see how THAT all panned out.)
So basically my advice for writers is to be willing to fail often. It’s painful, but it’s part of the process.
And don’t disregard the value of being stubborn and believing in your work. If I hadn’t been extremely passionate about Maggie and the gang, I wouldn’t have gone into self-publishing and I wouldn’t currently be working on the twentieth Confessions story.
V is for Virtue — A-Z Challenge
In the age of sensationalistic “news” coverage and the rabid pack mentality of social media users, I’ve been thinking about this quote from Steinbeck quite a bit.
Because of that I want to give a shoutout to my loyal friend, Misty Evans.
I want her to know that her virtues, which are many, are appreciated.
(And her books, which are also many, are awesome.)
Since it’s “V” day, let me introduce you to her Vengeance demon, Kali.
Payback is a bitch and her name is Kali Sweet…
I’m Kali Sweet, the best damn vengeance demon on Earth. I work for the supernatural world’s Justice Department and protect innocent humans from otherworldly creatures like me. While I can’t take revenge for myself, I make sure justice is done for others.
But when my latest run-in with Chicago’s vampire king backfires, the fallout leaves me with three big problems: a powerful Undead enemy who wants my head, my boss looking over my shoulder, and three personal blood slaves jeopardizing my reputation.
One of those slaves happens to be sexy rock star Radison Beaumont – the half-human, half-chaos demon who left me at the altar three hundred years ago. Even if he does need my blood now to survive, Rad and I will always be enemies.
Especially since he’s joined an ancient society of demon killers—and I’m the number one demon on their most wanted list.
U is for UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT
I don’t ALWAYS write funny books. Every once in a while I indulge my dark side. That was the case with Until Proven Innocent.
Seven years ago Kimberly Richard was convicted of a murder she didn’t commit.
Six years ago she escaped from prison and lived on the run ever since.
Now her conviction has been overturned and she’s returned home to try to rebuild her life.
When a storm washes a school van into a raging river, Kimberly and private investigator Cooper Washington jump in and save the kids and driver…but one child is missing. Was she ever even on the school bus? If not, who took her?
Kimberly’s chance at a “real life” is jeopardized by the ghosts of the past and the suspicions of the present.
N is for Neurotic — A-Z Challenge
Does it make me neurotic if I admit I love looking at all the covers of the Neurotic Hitwoman series?
L is for Learn — A-Z Challenge
You know that saying, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.”?
I agree with that, but one of my pet peeves is LAZY questions, or worse, people who have no questions.
We passed the Age of Enlightenment a long time ago, but why isn’t this the age of Self Expansion? For the first time in human existence, we have access to the knowledge of all of mankind. All it takes is a Google search!
Part of me is a naturally curious person, but I’ve conciously trained myself to be more so.
If I see something in the news or in my life that I don’t quite understand, I look it up. Everything is there — history, science, politics, song lyrics, meanings (I recently looked up “tongue-in-cheek”after a moment of panic that I’d been using the phrase incorrectly my whole life).
I’m never going to be the smartest person in the room, but I’m always open to improving myself.
What about you?