Creative October

When I lived in New Jersey, Autumn was my favorite season. Cooler temps and changing leaves were my groove. Now I live in Southwest Florida and despite the Pumpkin Spice everything in the stores, there’s really no such thing as Fall.

I miss the changing of the seasons if only because they forced me to look at the world differently.  Feeling like I need that little jolt of inspiration, I, one of the least artistic people ever to roam the planet, has signed up for Creative Sprint.  So I’ll be “making” something every day for the next thirty days. I’ll be sharing my creations on Instagram so follow if you think you’d enjoy laughing at my creative endeavors.

October will be a busy month as I publish THE HITWOMAN AND THE GOLD DIGGER, finish writing book 20 in the Hitwoman series (so far, it’s soooo much fun!) and work on my secret PCM project that will be published next year.

Also, on the days the heat index is less than 100, I’ll be trying to find fallen leaves with my mutt.

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Cover Reveal — The Hitwoman and the Gold Digger

 

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Book 19 in the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN series will be out in October of 2018.

I can’t wait for everyone to read Maggie’s latest adventure.

Meanwhile I’m working on Hitwoman 20 (out December 2018)  and the first book in my new PCM series which will be out in 2019.

Almost as exciting as that first cup of coffee in the morning.

Almost…..   😉

 

There are no weekends when you’re a writer

I spent the first half of yesterday finishing up the story edits for THE HITWOMAN AND THE GOLD DIGGER.

Then I went and talked to a bellydancer, a man on stilts and a man in a kilt as research for the PCM series which I’ll be launching next year.  (Intriguing, right?)

Then I reread all of Gold Digger yet again.

I could have sent it to my copy editor, but I was suffering from, “What if I want to change something else?” syndrome.

Now it’s 10 on a Sunday morning and I’ve deleted my story editor’s last two comments and sent the manuscript to my copy editor.

I waited to delete the last two comments because they made me happy.

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After that, I emailed my story editor to arrange time for her to work on Hitwoman 20 and the first PCM book.

And I sent material to my assistant so that she can work up some promo stuff.

And I made some notes for PCM and I wrote a page of Hitwoman 20.

Have I mentioned it’s 10 a.m. on a Sunday? lol!

But it’s not all work and no play, I’m off to see a matinee of a play a friend is in this afternoon. Like a normal person would do on a weekend.   😉

 

 

 

Only a writer would stop to

watch the Criminal Justice Academy perform “vehicle operations driving range exercises”. (See the video proof I did this on Instagram.)

Basically it’s watching cop cars drive around cones, but I couldn’t resist the chance to stop and watch for a while.

Just an FYI —

Earlier this week I revealed on Facebook that Hitwoman 19 — THE HITWOMAN AND THE GOLD DIGGER will be out next month.

Haven’t nailed down the exact  release date yet. If you want to find out when it will be available for preorder, please subscribe to my newsletter. (Don’t worry, I ONLY send out the newsletter when I’ve got actual news.)

I’ve finished the story edits and I have to say that I’m feeling good about the book. This is an unusual feeling…usually at this point I’m in the process I’m convinced that there isn’t a single person on the planet that will like it.

Now I kind of feel like a ticking bomb…just waiting for the crippling anxiety to explode.

 

 

Straddling

I sent Hitwoman 19 to my editor on Monday and now I’m working on Hitwoman 20, which is both awesome and anxiety-inducing.

I really love how 19 turned out, but I’m worried that she’ll see something horrible in it (or not in it) that I missed.  I was excited to start working on 20, but since it’s the next in the series, the events of 19 (there’s a BIG event in 19) have a significant impact on what happens in 20.

So it may end up that I’ll have to scrap my work on 20 if she finds a major problem in 19.

In addition to straddling the space between two hitwoman books, I am working slowly and steadily on PCM….which, by itself is also both awesome and anxiety-inducing, lol.

8/11 Death isn’t always fatal

I killed off a major Hitwoman character this week, one that’s been in the series since the first book CONFESSSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN.

I MAY have sobbed uncontrollably while writing the death scene.

I literally lost sleep over the death. I just stayed awake half the night mourning the character’s loss, worrying over the reaction of readers, wondering what the hell I’d done.

Finally I decided the character couldn’t die. I rewrote the chapter with the death…then I had to rewrite the chapters leading up to the death. So basically I spent most of the week rewriting because I kept crying over this character’s death.

Writers aren’t crazy or anything….

 

 

8/7 Dancing in a movie theater….

Sometimes as a writer, I need to refill the creative well, so tonight I went to see this documentary/making of a music video/concert featuring Jason Mraz at the movie theater called Have It All.

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I thought it might be crowded, so I bought my ticket ahead of time.

You can guess where this is going, right?

I was the ONLY person in the theater.

Unusual, but not weird.

There are no previews playing.  Again, unusual, but not weird.

The movie doesn’t start.  I wait five minutes. I go tell a teenage employee that the movie needs to be started. I return to my seat. (Thankfully it hadn’t been taken by anyone in my absence…since you know…there was no one else there.)

I text my sister to tell her about the totally deserted theater and the fact there’s no movie.

I text her, not because I need to vent, but because I know that like most weird things that happen to me, she will be entertained. Her response is exactly what I expect from her, “Only you.”

HARK!!!!! Something’s happening on the screen. Very exciting. I tell her I think it may be starting. I put away my phone and settle in to watch.

The guy at the projector window at the top of the theater opens the window and yells out, “Is it too loud?”

I’m pretty sure I did a pan for the hidden camera that had to be recording this because there is NO SOUND.

Because it took me a second to answer (because I really thought he was messing with me) he yells again, “Is it too loud?”

“There’s no sound!” I yell back.

“What?”

“There’s no freaking sound!” I scream. SIDE NOTE: Kudos to me for at least saying “freaking”…even though I was screaming it at the top of my lungs.

The window closes.

Seriously, he just closed the window.

So I took a deep breath and went back to watching the screen with the “Trash your garbage” (WHO WRITES THIS STUFF?!?!) reminder.

And the sound kicks in and then there’s a jumble as he fast forwards thru some stuff.

So I settle in again to watch.

THEN he runs up to my seat in the theater to ask me how the volume is. Which was weird and awkward, but yeah, okay, thanks.

And he leaves.

THEN he returns to ask about about the volume again because “FATHOM events have their volume set at 7.1 while normal is 4.5.”

“It’s FINE,” I tell him.

The movie starts thirty-four minutes after it was supposed to, but I still managed to enjoy the strange hybrid of collaboration and motivation.

Mraz dedicates his song UNLONELY to anyone who’s gone to the theater alone. Considering I went alone and am all alone in the theater this makes me chuckle. Which is why, when he encourages viewers to get up and dance, I did. I mean, why not? There was no one there to see me.

The projectionist opened the window to clap for me when I was done.

 

 

 

 

 

8/6 Jack’s back

If you’ve read the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN series, you know reporter, Jack Stern (he of the gravelly voice and black leather jacket).

Jack never resonated with readers the way a certain redhead did or a mobster’s nephew has, but I’ve always had a soft spot for him. I keep bringing him back because, being a straight arrow, he’s one of those characters who is challenging for Maggie on many levels.

I spent most of my writing time today trying to get a scene right that takes place with not only him and Maggie, but Delveccio and God. It’s been a little complicated to get the voices and timing right. It’s ALMOST there, but not quite done.

What is done however, is the fused glass bowl I mentioned a week or two ago. I have no artistic talent, but it was still a fun project to do.

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8/2 Delete Delete Delete

Imagine a heavy sigh here.

((SIGH))

Yup, that’s me today. 

I ended up deleting more words than I wrote for Hitwoman 19 after realizing I’d gone off on a tangent  (a FUN tangent) that didn’t help drive the story forward.

Sometimes writing days consist of using the delete button…A LOT.

(And to make matters worse, I made no progress on PCM.)

((SIGH))

Tomorrow is another day to try, try again.