UPDATE...on the great BRUGES BLOOD mystery solving comp.  It occurs to me that perhaps the timescale isn’t kind enough for those of you who aren’t speed readers on holiday :) . So the closing date for solutions will be extended until the end of August...GOOD LUCK ALL.

SUMMER IS HERE and with it the holiday opportunity for book reading! 

And to add a little spice into the experience I’d like to launch a competition based on my most recent publication BRUGES BLOOD. So here’s the deal. Within the book is a mysterious postcard left by Chandler’s father which contains one of the many puzzles he loved to challenge Chandler with.  

For the month of July I will be offering a prize of $50 to one lucky winner, who will be drawn from an electronic hat by a friendly robot. 

But first of course you have to solve the mystery :) No more clues. All you Sherlocks, Poirots and Columbos out there (Other sleuths are available) get to work. Just buy a copy of BRUGES BLOOD, Kindle or paperback, and get reading. 

The puzzle will be obvious...the solution not so much. Send all of your solutions to touchwoodpicturesltd@hotmail.com.  I will announce the winner on August 1st and PAYPAL  the winnings to you the same day. 

GOOD LUCK!

Hello Again All My Lovelies!

I had promised to send the revised manuscript to Adam end of June. It’s a couple weeks past my deadline, but this weekend I’m working through the draft with a final polish before submitting to the publisher. It’s been almost two years since that 2017 Horror Contest Halloween photo-finish with Mike Welch. There have been major edits, revisions, darlings murdered and rewrites to the novel. But what really happened, from my perspective, is a personal transformation as my editor urged me to dig deeper, write better and bring nuance to every aspect of the story. I am not that same writer from 2017. It’s hard to articulate what exactly I am now, but I believe that journey is captured in my story: MINE. Hopefully this draft will pass muster with the Inkshares team and you all will get a glimpse into this shadowy realm of becoming… 

July!

My editor loves my revised outline so I’m back to writing and feeling very motivated! I’ve also finished my edits for my Deception Anthology story!

Though I try to keep everyone updated about my revision process, I don’t usually go into too much depth about my emotions during it. If you’d like to hear me speak candidly about them, check out the latest Writing Bloc podcast where I talk to authors Christopher Lee and special guest Laney Wylde all about rewrites and being a neurotic writer.

Far more important than any of this, though, there are atrocities being committed in our country by our government and in our name and I am morally obligated to use whatever platform I have to speak out about it. I’ll be working with some local friends to organize a baby carrier drive, stuff backpacks, and write postcards to elected officials. We also just started a fundraiser for RAICES, and we’d love your support. People are people and borders are arbitrary. If you can’t give, please commit to some kind of action. 

I love all of you and am so thankful for your patience and encouragement as I create this book.

Dear y’all. It’s really happening.

Update your address if, perhaps, you’ve moved in the past three and 3/4 years. That way, you can be sure to get your copy.

Tausend Dank.

Dear Readers,

June! I heard back from Inkshares. This time the Director of Marketing and the CEO read my draft and...THEY DON’T HATE IT. Haha, Yay! They like a lot of it and had loads of nice things to say. They don’t want me to change the story or structure, which is huge. They do want me to focus on character now, especially my main character, Cassidy, and continue to hone my prose, so I’m working my way through a reading list of craft books and comparable titles. Be on the lookout for a title change coming soon. A few days ago,  I went through my whole outline and added notes about what to add and change, so as soon as I finish this next book annd have a check in call with the publisher, I’ll jump into the writing. We’re getting closer!

Maybe my most exciting news is that for Mother’s Day, my husband gifted me a writing getaway, which I plan to take this summer!

Also exciting, my short story, "Rachel Rose, Semite" was accepted for publication in the new Writing Bloc Anthology.
The gist is this: A misunderstanding in kindergarten led everyone to believe Rachel Rose was Jewish. Now she’s been pretending for twelve years and is up for a college scholarship-- if she can pull off a school-wide Passover Seder. Can she fool her classmates, and the scholarship committee, one more time? Look for it in Fall 2019!

Thank you, as always, for your support!

Hey, y’all. Quick update. I got another proof back, but it was full of formatting errors for the quotation marks on certain bits of dialogue. I am going through, quote by quote, and marking them for correction. I hope to turn it around, today. Amazingly, this sort of fine-tooth combing seems to take as much, if not more, time than writing a book. Excelsior.