Strange inspirations

What inspires you?
I've had some problems sitting down and writing this week. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe this is a natural down time, some 30,000 words into my new project. Maybe it was working sick all last week...

Anyway, each morning I've told myself that it's ok if I don't make my word count. But something keeps coming up. I went to the gym and realized, "Aha! The letter opener is stolen!" (this makes sense to me). I got a call from a friend and realized, "Dulcie hasn't hung out with her friends in a while." I get yelled at by my cat (a common occurrence) and... well, you guessed it. I've made my word count each day this week (thus far).

My UCLA students asked me recently how to keep on writing. I think the only answer is that you do it. One inspiration at a time.

Shyness.

While it is very nice to be quoted in The New York Times (as a mystery author, no less), I need to qualify. I'm not that shy. What I was trying to tell the writer was that, given my druthers, I'd prefer to be home with my husband and cat than out at a conference. And I had in fact just experienced a major economic setback. So cancelling out was in part to save the airfare and hotel, but it also allowed me to follow my heart and stay home, rather than sit around a hotel bar and think about how much money I was spending. I guess that was too complicated and he needed to boil it down. Ah well, it's all press, right?

"Grey Matters" is a go!

Well, my editor liked my synopsis for the second Dulcie book. Loved it, actually. Which is very heartening, especially considering that I only have about 100 pages written and so I'm really just guessing how it will all turn out. (In all fairness, I do know my characters pretty well by now, so I think my guesses are close. Plus, she's an editor. She must know that we never stick to our synopsis letter for letter, right?)

And in even better news, I think my coldy-flu-y virus is finally abating. I no longer want to whine and cut my own head off. I'm beginning to realize how behind I am on everything. This is progress.

C.J. Sansom's "Revelation"

this ran today in the Boston Globe. A bit trimmed, but you get the idea. Still sick...

Oh, and this link isn't a pre-order link to Shades of Grey. Not yet. Right now, it is just a sign up for alerts – so they'll let you know when the new book is available.

Sick as a dog, happy as a cat

Jon and I are taking turns wandering from room to room and falling asleep on various pieces of furniture. Musetta seems to approve. Wish I felt like a human, but just found out that "Shades of Grey" is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon, which makes it seem much more real. Why pre-order, though? Why not just available for ordering? (I'm not questioning the process – please, pre-order! Just the phrasing: Do we really need the "pre"? Can't you just "order" an item to be shipped when it is available?)

She likes it!

I can't really complain about being busy. I much prefer it to being bored! Still, sometimes it's overwhelming and sometimes just deeply confusing to have multiple projects in various stages.

But sometimes it all becomes clear. Yesterday, I heard back from my editor at Severn House: She likes what I've done with "Shades of Grey" (really likes it, words like "even stronger" and "great" were bandied about) and so the manuscript is moving on to copy editing. And so yesterday, I had one of those instinctive reactions. Yes, I'm already deep into the next Dulcie book. Yes, I have "Dogs Don't Lie" waiting for me to re-read and revise it. And, yes, I'm gearing up for the "Probable Claws" launch. Still, after I got that news, I just had to take a break and spend most of the afternoon cleaning – really cleaning. My nose is still stuffy from all the dust I raised, and even in this weather I was bathed in sweat. No matter. The nest is now ready for the next project to hatch!

And... I'm now an Indiebound affiliate! Which means that this link should take you to an independent bookstore near you.

And finally, this is just plain silly!

Where do you get your ideas?

People often ask where I get my ideas. Now I have a perfect story to tell them!

Last week, I sent an advance reading copy (bound galley) of "Probable Claws" off to a woman who runs a website on cozy mysteries. This week, I followed up to make sure she had gotten it. She responded that she had, but because it was sent via media mail it had been opened and inspected by the US Postal Service. Wonderful woman that she is, she asked why.

She was told that everything that is sent via media mail is X-rayed, for starters. And, I quote:

"I asked the lady at the post office and she said if there's anything in "media mail" that doesn't belong (like drug-impregnanted paper,which, she says, is a problem), the feds return it to the sender."

Which blows my mind. First of all, that drug-impregnated paper is common enough to be a problem. And also that they send it back.

You know this is going to show up in a book at some point.

and... here's my latest review for the San Francisco Chronicle. Nina Killham's "Believe Me."

THANK YOU, PW!!

Publishers Weekly, Feb. 2, 2009

Probable Claws Clea Simon. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (264p) ISBN 978-1-59058-564-1
Music journalist Theda Krakow once again proves a feisty and determined sleuth in Simon's lively fourth cat-themed mystery (after 2007's Cries and Whiskers). Theda alternates between the cat world, dominated by her pet, Musetta, and the Boston area music scene, about which she writes for local magazines and newspapers. When her retired policeman boyfriend, Bill, buys into a successful club that's a cop hangout, Theda can't help feeling a little jealous, though she admits she also has a problem with Bill's attitude—he's too patronizing. Meanwhile, contaminated cat kibble at the animal shelter run by her friend Violet may be the work of a poisoner. When Theda, guided by blood on Musetta's paw, discovers Rachel, a shelter vet, lying on the treatment-room floor with a fatal stab wound, she gets arrested for Rachel's murder. Well-drawn characters, a plot with many strings to unravel and plenty of appealing cats make this another winner for Simon. (Apr.)

Sent!

Yesterday at around 3 p.m. I finished the revisions on "Shades of Grey" and sent the manuscript back to my editor at Severn House in London. Within minutes, I'd gotten a very nice response (which makes me wonder about the hours she keeps). I guess I must have been more keyed up than I thought, because I teared up as I read the last page and then suddenly felt exhausted. The cat was enjoying her midday nap, so I fitted myself into the remaining third of the bed and slept for about a half hour. Then I got up... and wrote 1,300 words on "Grey Matters," as I am tentatively calling the sequel.

Often I feel sad when I finish a book. I think I've been working on this one for so long that maybe that won't hit me. Maybe I'll just feel relieved?

mucking about...

just back in from an hour of trying to break up the ice dams in front of our house. the snow has turned to rain and it was getting deep and my neighbor Peter and I were out there, trying to chip away. now my hands are all cramped, but it was a really nice change from working on revisions. made me think of Ratty in "The Wind in the Willows" (there, I can do u/c!), mucking about it boats...

very satisfying when the water finally began to flow!

Animal logic...

Musetta has moved back into my office!
I don't know why, but for about a month, my beloved cat had not been sitting with me when I worked. Was I too loud? Was there a draft (I mean, a new one) in this old house? Was it something I said?

For whatever reason, she'd been spending most of my working time in two other rooms. But as of yesterday, she's back and I can hear her mutterings and snorts as she sleeps.

Which is good, because I need the help. I'm supposed to get the revised manuscript of "Shades of Grey" back to my editor by early February. But I also feel like I need to get a good running start on the sequel (tentatively titled "Grey Matters"), because that's due end of May! And I'd love to have a minute to re-read the draft I did of my pet psychic mystery, too. Plus, I just heard that the MWA is accepting submissions for a new anthology and I'd love to try my hand at another pet psychic story or maybe a short Dulcie caper...

And then there's the money work – the stuff that pays significantly more per page or per hour, and keeps us all in Iams. I'm halfway through my UCLA class, so I won't short them. But when will I get to that editing job I was just given? Or helping that businessman draft his proposal? Aiee...

Tell me I'm not the only one with time management problems? How do you cope?

Talon show

I love living in Cambridge. I was walking into Inman Square. Had my head down to look for icy patches, and suddenly I see a movement to my right. There, sitting on a fence, was a hawk, eating a pigeon. He looked at me - we were just about eye level - as if to say, "Yeah, lady? Whadya want?" I'm afraid I went "eep," and he flew off, right in front of me - INCHES away – across very urban Inman Square, to finish his meal on the awning of Cambridge Family Health Center. Not a healthy place for pigeons, I guess.

I watched him for a while, along with a few other people – a man unloading a truck who confessed to being a little afraid of him (I pointed out that the hawk would be scarier if it were still hungry), a woman who had my reaction when we pointed the hawk out ("eep!" followed by laughter), another who said that she sees hawks all the time from her office window - and the ground below is always littered with pigeon bits! - and a guy in a car who looked up and asked, "Is that a gull?" Oh, please.

(This is a US Wildlife photo. Substitute in a busy city intersection, hawk sitting first on wire fence, then on purple awning.)

Happy Inauguration Day!

Just took a break to watch the swearing in and listen to President Obama's speech. Oh, it's fun to say that!

Just got the text of Obama's inaugural speech: Read it here.

Pete Seeger rules

Somehow the predicted "two to four inches" became seven in yesterday's snowstorm, so spent much of the day digging – and then taking a long work (errands are more fun when the new snow is crunching beneath your books). I love my new crop of students – they're so energetic – but when I got home, fully intending to read their latest assignments, I turned on the TV and was hooked. HBO was re-broadcasting the "We Are One" concert, the celebration of Obama's inauguration. I'm a sucker for ceremony, and this had it all. Plus Pete Seeger! The man is 90, right? But there he was, standing and playing banjo and leading tens of thousands of people in a complete (and I mean with the great, full, revolutionary lyrics) singalong of "This Land is Your Land." So inspiring.

The other great surprise? Garth Brooks. I'm not a huge country fan, to put it mildly. But he got up and led a choir – and those tens of thousands – through "Bye, Bye Miss American Pie," "Shout," and some other vaguely inspirational song (maybe one of his
own?), like an inspired preacher. Truly moving!

Also really adorable to see Malia taking photos during the concert, just like any pre-teen fan. Okay, anyone know what that third Garth Brooks song was?

Introducing Dulcie Schwartz

Dulcie Schwartz was born for academia. A grad student at Harvard, she lives for research. Her discipline – the Gothic English novel of the late 18th Century – may seem minor to some. But for Dulcie, it's reason to dive into the library, into the ordered, reasoned world of books. At least, until her roommate is murdered, her mother starts calling with some strange psychic dreams. And the ghost of her late, great cat Mr. Grey appears to help her through it all ... or over the edge.

Dulcie is the heroine of "Shades of Grey," a slightly paranormal mystery I've been working on for more than a year now. And now Dulcie and her oddball cohorts have found a home at Severn House, a British publisher that has begun expanding into the US. Severn will be bringing out "Shades of Grey" in hardcover in the UK in June, with a US edition to follow (probably in August), and we're hoping for a trade paperback sometime after that. They've also contracted for a second Dulcie book, which I'm working on now!

Theda Krakow – my rock critic heroine – will be back in April in her fourth outing, "Probable Claws," with Poisoned Pen Press. And, yes, I still have that "pet noir" book in the works. Right now, it is drafted and I'm letting it sit – the better to see what needs fixing. Maybe that one will find a home within the year.

In the meantime, please give Dulcie a warm welcome! She's had a rough couple of months. But she's one of my favorite gals, and I look forward to introducing her around and spending more time with her!

Heartbreaking

No, this is not my big announcement, but I have to write this.

One of the perks of my life is that my husband often brings home books to me. Books he thinks I might like to review, or books that he is pretty sure he won't want to assign for review but that he'll think I'll like. Sometimes these pile up and gather dust. Sometimes, though, I love them.

"The Journal of Dora Damage" was one of the latter. Jon saw the cover – the lettering in gold in an archaic type, against an uneven red background, with the inset of a woman's midriff in a corset - and thought, "Ah, a historical!" Always a good bet for me. When I picked him up on Friday evening, it was one of about five books in his bag (to be fair, one was a Lincoln bio for his mom). Well, as I waited for him to run in to pick up our take-out dinner, I found it and started reading. I never stopped. "The Journal of Dora Damage" is a wonderfully imagined story, the tale of an impoverished (think Dickensian) young wife with a sickly husband who is forced to take over her husband's bookbinding business in order to survive. And in order to survive, she takes whatever clients she can gets. That soon means she is binding private pornography collections. The year is 1860, and new laws have made it permissable to own (though not publish) pornography, and a certain set of gentlemen are now eager to show off their collections. Add in that one of the lady wives of these gentlemen is involved in the American abolition movement, and the stage is set for a wonderful, character-driven adventure of gender, race, and class politics, all spearheaded by a likable and independent heroine. Anyone who has enjoyed Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith" or "Tipping the Velvet" would love this book.

(I believe this is the UK cover; my edition is red.)

The book is 452 pages, and late yesterday I realized I was nearing the end. So I flipped to the end flap to find out about the author of this wonderful book. Ideally, I'd find she'd published other novels or had others in the works. What I read broke my heart: "Belinda Starling lived in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her husband and childred, and died in August 2006. The Journal of Dora Damage was her first book." A two-page note by her brother at the book's end explains more. Starling had scheduled surgery for a bile-duct cyst for shortly after the completion of this book. The surgery seemed to go well, but then an artery burst. More surgery followed and, as he says, "she never left hospital." She left her family, which includes two small children. She also left her readers. We may not have known her, but we will miss her.



On an unrelated note, I thoroughly enjoyed (even if I wasn't wowed by) the new Barry Unsworth. A very timely read, as well.

Drumroll, please...

Am waiting for something to arrive in the mail, but as soon as it does, I will have a big announcement!

In the meantime, Chris Verstraete hosted me in her series of writing tips over at her Candid Canine blog. Drop on by to see what I and her other guests have suggested!

Whoops - forgot that this review was running today. Hope it reads okay.

Holy Toledo, Catwoman!

Wow, a few months ago Abby Ellin (a former Boston Phoenix writer) called me for a comment for a piece she was doing on men and cats for the New York Times. That piece got around, and last week I got an email from Rod Lockwood of the Toledo (OH) Blade. He wanted to interview me for a piece about a cat show. So we chatted about, in his words, "ancient myths involving cats and how they came to represent feminine stereotypes and eventually were demonized. You know, Batman’s a good guy, Catwoman is bad. Cats are associated with witches and they’re generally considered mysterious ... that kind of stuff."


Read more here.

Font of wisdom

My writing buddy Caroline Leavitt, that is! She suggested that while I'm revising my current WIP, I print it out using a different font. No matter how familiar I am with my own work, she told me, it would look different this way – and I'd be able to catch more things to change. Usually, I print everything out in Times, a classic font that I love. But this time, following her advice, I printed out the first 60 pages in Courier, which looks a little like an old-fashioned typewriter. I wasn't sure her system would work for me, but I figured, well, I can try 60 pages this way. That's not that much paper...

But much to my surprise, she's right! I'm catching everything from dull sentences (well, I hope I'd catch those anyway) to repeated words, bad punctuation, you name it. I'm printing out the rest of the manuscript in Courier right now, and when I read it through again I'll try yet another (Helvetica perhaps? Arial? Or elegant-looking Copperplate?). In retrospect, I can't see how I ever re-read my manuscripts before, and I'm definitely incorporating this smart tip into my UCLA writing class.

Anyone else have any tips to share? Any favorite fonts?

Reader response...

Well, at least one kitten is enthralled by my current work-in-progress, even if the other finds it a snooze.


(Thanks to my friend Naomi who sent me this photo of her two kittens, Lentil and Chickpea, who joined her as she bravely read through a first draft.)

To the Nines!

Does anyone know the derivation of the phrase "dressed to the nines"? I've got to find out.

In the meantime, happy 2009, everyone! One of my resolutions is to keep this blog a little more regularly updated - and I can tell you already I hope to have big news for you all within the next week or two. Stay tunes and have a grand rest-of-the-holiday weekend!

Farewell, Eartha Kitt

Chanteuse, actress, outspoken performer, and all around diva Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day. Linda L. Richards has details and links on her blog. Here, I'll just say that I had the privilege of seeing Kitt perform a year ago last summer at the Newport Jazz Festival. At that point, she must have been dealing with the cancer that took her life, but she was magnificent. In the days since, I've read several obits, and have been newly impressed by her strength (the daughter of an unwed mother, she pretty much had to fend for herself for much of her youth) and her brave candor (Lady Bird Johnson asked Kitt what she thought about the Vietnam War. Kitt told her – and had to move to Europe as a result of the blacklist that followed).

What a great lady! Put on a copy of "Santa Baby" tonight, even though it's after the holiday, and remember her. Eartha Kitt, RIP.

Welcome back!

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas! The solstice has passed. The sun is returning! It may be 16 degrees out now, but spring will come again. Let's celebrate!

Do you have a holiday tradition? Jon and I light my family's old menorah. Usually, we save our presents for each other till the last night. But with the storm and all, we gave each other one present each on Sunday! (He got a bottle of Scotch, as human anti-freeze; I got an Edward Gorey cat pin!) We're seeing lots of friends over the next two weeks, folks coming to town and others who just finally have time. And on Christmas Day we're going to the movies with another friend - and then out for Chinese!

New Year's Resolution: Learn to Write!

What are your plans for 2009? Have you made any resolutions? I can't help you lose weight or quit smoking, but I might be able to help with another popular resolution. If you're one of the many folks who have promised yourself that 2009 will be the year you finally start writing, why not take a course? Sometimes the structure of a course, with its guided excercises and deadlines, is all you need! I'm telling you this now because I'm in line to teach "Essential Beginnings" through the UCLA Extension writers program in January. "Essential Beginnings" is a six-week workshop designed to get anyone up and writing in a supportive and encouraging environment. Curious? Check out my course (and hundreds more) here.

18th Century mayhem

"A fellow by the name of Revere. Lives up in the North End. Charges a fortune..."

Murder, mystery, and lots of mayhem in pre-Revolutionary Boston – all in Jill Lepore's and Jane Kamensky's Blindspot, read my San Francisco Chronicle review here

Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.

I've been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren't known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don't lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn't in the cards.

We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let's mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your presents, but that's just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children's books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they'll be cheaper after the holidays) and buy many, many books.

Enjoy the holidays.

Roy Blount Jr.
President, Authors Guild

The deep breath...

I know in some ways this is the crazy season, but really, isn't it also the deep breath before the plunge?

I've pretty much finished a rough draft of my "pet noir," I expect to have some good news to announce in the new year, and I've got "Probable Claws" coming out in April. But right now, freelance is dying down. Editors are taking off for vacations (or getting laid off). Things are quieting down. We're planning a couple of dinners out with friends, some quiet holiday celebrations. It's the deep breath before the plunge into the next busy year, I think, and I'm savoring it.

What about you? Crazed or quiet?

RIP, Bettie Page

Sex kitten, bondage queen, and one-time pin-up star Bettie Page has died.

Santa clawed

Hey, I understand holiday stress! I'm trying to get all my work done – more on this, soon – and still manage to have a little fun, see some friends, etc., this holiday season. So I know what this kitty was going through. That said, did he have to bite Santa? Poor Benny. Poor Santa!

David Liss returns with "The Whiskey Rebels"

David Liss has returned to historical mysteries with The Whiskey Rebels, a thoroughly enjoyable book. As I wrote in today's Boston Globe:

"Blame the speculators! Banks are unstable, and the nation itself appears on the verge of collapse. Americans have turned against each other, each convinced that the other side is intent on destroying the country. No, it's not 2008, it's 1792, but that doesn't mean that the means and motives aren't the same. Indeed, in his engaging new historical novel, David Liss recounts the dawn of the fledgling US banking industry up through its almost-demise, in the 18th-century Whiskey Rebellion, through characters as intriguing, and often as disreputable, as many we are observing today...."

(Read more here.)

"Dumb Beasts" – my first pet noir

from Dumb Beasts, from Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Authors

I really didn’t want to go over when Mrs. M. called. Sheila, as I think of her. With most people I’m on a first-name basis immediately. They’ve invited me into their homes, into some of their most intimate relationships, after all. It only makes sense. But not her. We were introduced formally the first time I came over, but although I immediately reached out, saying, “It’s Beth. Please, call me Beth,” she never reciprocated.

Her husband’s another sort entirely. I think it was his idea to call me the first time. At any rate, he was the one who cared, who wanted everyone to get along. She might’ve complained about the noise, though. I wouldn’t have put that past her.

It was a compatibility issue, that first time. The dog had been hers originally, a yappy little Yorkshire terrier, spoiled and insecure. More of a fashion accessory than a companion, I figured, them both being blondes and all. The Yorkie had been understandably unsettled when they had moved into his townhouse. The presence of his pets – a cat, a parrot, an aquarium full of fish – didn’t help the Yorkie’s mood, and, to be fair, the cat – an elderly Persian – hadn’t made it any easier. But I think they would have worked it out. Animals do. She was the problem. Couldn’t stand the barking, the hissing, the squawking.

I tried to tell her it was all part of the change, everybody finding their new place in the social order. She was having none of it. I thought that what really got her was Bridget’s betrayal. Bridget – that’s the Yorkie – took to Paul right away. I try to keep my feelings out of it. I’m not here for the people anyway. It’s all about the animals. ...

What do you think?
By the way, there's a book launching party for Deadfall next Tuesday, Dec. 16, at Redbones, in Davis Square, Somerville, 5:30-7 p.m. Come by and say hi. We'll have books for sale, and you can also order it here.

Revolutionary fiction!

Long-time friends Jill Lepore and Jane Kamensky didn't set out to write a bodice ripper in Blindspot (Spiegel & Grau). But when the two historians – Lepore is the David Woods Kemper professor of American history at Harvard and Kamensky is chair of Brandeis' history department – started drafting a two-character sketch for the 70th birthday of their mentor, historian John Demos, the characters carried them off. Six hundred pages later, their personae – "a Gentleman in Exile and a Lady in Disguise," as the subtitle explains – have involved themselves in murder, scandal, slave stealing, and some very hot sex, all in Boston on the eve of the American Revolution.

I got to spend some time with Jill and Jane. To read our chat, click here.

Bring back the cheap paperback!

This is such a brilliant idea!

Parties, parties, parties...

Sometimes people ask me about signed books, so I thought I'd speak out and remind folks that if they want signed copies of any of my books, the best way to do it is to catch me at one of the season's PARTIES! This Friday, I'll be at Kate's Mystery Books, for example. Officially, I'm signing 6-6:45, but I intend to be there the whole time. And next Tuesday is the party for Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Authors at Redbones Barbecue. (Deadfall has my pet-noir short story, "Dumb Beasts," in it.)

Of course, sometimes you can't make it to a party. But I'll be at both – as will my books – which means these are great places to get me to sign copies. One smart reader has already contacted Level Best Books to order a book, and has arranged for me to personalize an inscription at the Redbones party (after which, her copy will be mailed to her). But if anyone else wants a copy for the holidays, please just call or email either Kate or the Level Best Books folks. Let them know what you want, and I'll sign 'em!

*Just got this!*
Check out the authors who will be signing at Kate's on Friday. Come if you can. Call to order a signed book if you can't!
Holiday Party Schedule

5:30-6:15
Steve Anable, Linda Barnes, Sibylle Barrasso, Gary Braver, Jan Brogan, Susan Conant, Joe Finder, Kate Flora, Gary Goshgarian, Robert Parker

6-6:45
Judy Copek, David Daniels, Lynne Heitman, Chuck Hogan, Susan Kelly, William Landay, Dennis Lehane, Chris Mooney, Clea Simon – Me!, Leslie Wheeler

6:30-7:15
Johnny Barnes, James Benn, Alex Carr, Jane Langton, James Lynch, Rick Marinick, William Martin, Katharine Hall Page, Jenny Siler, Jere Smith, Mary Anne Tirone-Smith, Sarah Smith, Dave Zeltserman

7-7:45
Susan Atwell, Dana Cameron, James Bartlett, Sheila Connolly, Hallie Ephron, Debra Feldman, Beth Kanell, Steve Kelner, Toni Kelner, M.E. Kemp, Hank Phillip Ryan, D.G. Stern
--
Kate's Mystery Books
2211 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA. 02140
617/491-2660

How We Do It: Two Writers Talk Technique

Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder?

With Thanksgiving over and winter really in the air, sister author Caroline Leavitt and I decided to tackle how we write over this season – and through the holidays. Here's her take; mine is on her blog, here.

Is it true that to everything, including writing, there is a season (turn, turn, turn.) Well, it used to be that comic novels and beach books came out in the summer, and the most serious stuff came out in the fall, but now it seems that books come out any season at all (which is a good thing.)

For me, writing is something I have to do. I need it, I crave it, it’s an addiction, even on the days when putting a single word like “he” on the page is traumatic. Stories form and take years to get right, so whether it is frigid out or boiling, makes no difference to me—I still need and want to work. I’m more of an indoor, urban girl, so I don’t feel the pull of a sunny gorgeous day or the need to get out and romp in the snow as much as I feel a yearning to finish a chapter, a tug to meet my deadlines. That said, there is the thanksgiving through New Years problem, and then there is August, where somehow, for me, all bets are off.

It’s easy to see why. No one else is working. Around the holidays, there is so much family stuff going on so much to do in NYC, and let’s not even begin to talk about the movies that are out. August, the month when all shrinks seem to vacation, is actually more of a problem for me because of the intense heat (give me air conditioning and make it extra frosty) and the sense of pure summer laziness. I want to write—I just also want to nap or have another iced lemonade. I know a lot of people get depressed with SAD in the winter when light is more precious, but for me, the blinding heat and light of August puts me in a cantankerous mood. Nothing feels right to me in August, nothing seems to work well, and I admit, until I see the first signs of wool clothes in the store, I can’t seem to catch a breath, let alone write a decent sentence.

How do the holidays affect your writing or other work? Let us know!

"Probable Claws" ARC WINNERS!!

Drumroll, please....

The winners of advance, uncorrected reading copies of my April mystery, "Probable Claws," are Gina Teh, Krista Schnee, and Debbie Bogenschutz! My good friend and fellow author Vicki Croke ("The Lady and the Panda," among other books) drew three names at random for me. These three advance readers will be getting their copies soon. Everyone else will have to wait till April ... but thank you for playing!

(Note to the winners: This pretty cover is NOT on the advance edition yet. Sorry!)