Snow Day

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all safe, dry, and warm. I intended to do a blog about writing and marketing this past year. But I had to make this a snow day. I left Fergus to board at doggie daycare on Wednesday and again last night because I needed to pick up my new lease car and get his back seat cover in. 

I've been leasing for years and I was planning to buy the car I had. But I had to make an unexpected trip to the dealership on Wednesday morning to get my tires checked because they were all showing low pressure, then three came back but one didn't. While I was waiting for the service check, I decided to pop over to Sales and see about buying. That was when the rest of my week went off the rails. My sales associate from my last lease wanted to show me the 2023 and then do the numbers. 

I looked and when I had held out long enough to feel I was getting a good deal, he brought out a folder full of paperwork for me to initial or sign. I saw the lease accountant yesterday and talked about dogs and daycare and trips abroad that we had recently made as we did more paperwork. And I drove out with my next three year lease car -- a dark orange car instead of my silver. But this dark orange is dignified, not the awful orange-yellow of my first car decades ago.

This car also comes with bells and whistles, including a sideview mirror that covers the blind spot. If a car is there but not visible, a tiny car icon and a light come on.The review camera for backing also provides a wider view in the 2023 model. And this car even picks up anything that is about to pass behind the car, but is still out of view. The driver assistant that alerts and corrects if  you are drifting into another lane and brakes if you are getting too close to another car's rear end should be useful, too. And this car is bossy enough to make sure I don't forget my sleeping furbaby in back, When I turn off the engine, I am instructed to "Check the Rear Seat." 

All of these features will make my life a little less stressful during my rush-hour, weekday treks to pick up Fergus from daycare. This semester I can go earlier becase I'm on sabbatical, but come January I'll be back into the office on the days when I teach. 

Meanwhile, I can enjoy being a stay-at-home writer for another month. This afternoon we (Fergus and I) have finally made it home after a stop at the ATM, the pet store, and CVS (in lieu of a trip to the supermarket to get snow day frozen pizza). 

And I am about to get back to my gangster movie book. Almost done but I need to expand on several chapters. I usually need to reduce my word count, but with this book the publisher has some specific instructions about what should be covered. This book needs to follow the same format as the others in the genre movie series. Having instructions should have made it easier to write -- but it hasn't. On the other hand it's useful to have a structure that will work for each of the movies.

If I stick to it, I will be done by Monday morning. Just in time to mail out holiday cards and put up a few decorations. 

I have one more blog post before the end of the year. I'll blog then about the books that I have read over the past year that I have enjoyed and/or found useful. Meanwhile, my time spent at the car dealership also turned out to be useful. As the sales associate and I were discussing the blind spot feature on the 2023 car, I realized I had a title for the short story I have due (for an anthology) at the end of the month. "Blind Spot".  Got the title, and now all I need is a story to go with it.  

All is calm here, Fergus has moved his nap from the back of the sofa to the space between sofa and wall. He is snoring now and then as he sleeps. Penelope the cat is asleep on top of the radiator in the dining room.  And  I am going to pop my frozen pizza in the oven and -- pretending I haven't seen or heard the most recent warning about over-processed food -- use the time I'm not cooking to get back to work.

Happy last minute shopping, tree decorating, cookie baking, curling up on the sofa with hot chocolate and an old movie  or whatever you're doing this weekend as the holidays approach. 

Today is National Ugly Sweater Day. I'm about to go see what I have in my closet to wear while I write.

Fergus and Penelope send their best.

Thoughts about Process

 Frankie here. Charlotte's post last Friday about tenacity and her writing process made me think once again about "getting to finish" with my various works in progress.

My puppy Fergus has been at home from  doggie daycare all week as he finishes a course of antibiotics for a virus. Although I sometimes wonder if it is extravagant to spend money to send him to daycare, the past week has convinced me once again that it is worth it. Daycare is important to his socialization, and -- as important -- having him out of the house allows me to get work done. If all goes well, I'll at least earn enough to keep dog and cat in kibble and treats for a year or two.

While preparing for a Sisters in Crime National webinar I did on Wednesday, I had an opportunity to think about what always works for me. The one aspect of my process that I can always rely on is -- wait for it! -- research. Doing research gets me started, helps me push on through the muddled middle, and gets me across the finish line. 

Sometimes what I call research is no more than reading a newspaper and looking for articles that jump out at me. I keep a notebook at hand to jot down ideas inspired by the articles. When I'm stuck I flip though my notebook. I also keep a digital file. 

Today I was in my digital file and came across this note I made to myself about my 6th Lizzie Stuart novel. I'm still in the early stages of writing the first draft, but I've been keeping plot notes for months. This note is from an early synopsis. I wrote it when my working title was Nothing As Planned.  

It’s a month after the events in “In Her Fashion”. Lizzie has been reading about expatriates and that has brought her to Albert Einstein. She is reading a book about his struggle to complete his theory of relativity. She is fascinated by his effort to break through his block and his discovery of the solution while reading patent applications and then his boldness in challenging Newton’s theory.

"In Her Fashion" is a Lizzie short story that was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.  

 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/eqmm/episodes/2014-06-27T06_59_34-07_00

The story was complete in itself, but a month later, Lizzie is still thinking about the people who were involved. The thing is I have no idea why I thought Einstein would be relevant to what happens in the novel. Lizzie is driving home when she sees a woman trying to change her flat tire. She stops to make sure she is okay. Later, she learns the woman is missing. The current working title of the book is A Rainy Night in Gallagher. 

But -- whatever I was reading -- I found something that I thought would be useful about Albert Einstein and his patent application. With luck it was a brilliant idea that I forgot. I'm going to have to find that article again. 

Meanwhile, Fergus is playing with his stuffed lamb. There is a hole in its belly, and Fergus has strewed white cotton from kitchen to dining room to living room. But, at least, it's something I can sweep up. I'm ignoring and trying to get a little more done before I call it a day.