A Sneak Peek at the New Sydney Brennan Book, and a Quick Dive into the World of Dialect

The latest Sydney Brennan, River Bound, is well on its way to hitting your hands and ereaders before Christmas. The manuscript is in its third and final copy edit pass, with my editor and I currently engaged in a profanity hyphenation debate (smart-ass or smartass, with both of us arguing both sides). And I haven’t forgotten you Luddites (I say that lovingly, having spent last weekend moving heavily laden bookshelves)—the paperback cover is on order. I mentioned before that I’m not setting a solid release date. This time of year, there’s a bit of spinning-the-wheel quality to when non-Preorder books Read more…

Postcards from Dead Hollow Land

I think I mentioned last post that I’d be doing some traveling. I am now in No Internet Land–my cell phone won’t even pick up my email. Well, not now at this precise moment. We’ve made a coffee shop pilgrimage (to another state) for “emergency wifi.” While I’m here, I thought I’d share some pretty pictures. Yesterday, we were fortunate to have a chilly but beautiful day for a train excursion in West Virginia. That’s right–we’re in Dead Hollow land! And I’m taking notes for Book Three of the trilogy. The train traveled through The Trough, a narrow space between Read more…

Return of the Lunatic (Post-It) Fringe: More Writer’s Notes to Self

A few nights ago, we were heading to bed when my husband said, “I like your laptop.” Yeah, seemed like a non sequitur to me, too. Then he added, “It’s like you smashed something in there, and all the ideas are squishing out.” Ahh… Not a total non sequitur after all. He’d just evicted the cat from our dog Fritz’s crate (Ninja loves Fritz’s new bed, and the pit bull is too much of a wuss to kick him out), and the crate is directly behind my desk where rests my frilly laptop. I’ve previously confessed my love of/unhealthy addiction Read more…

Magpie Moments: Charlie Brown—More Than Just a Comic Character

I’m thrilled to share that Founder, Book Two of the Appalachian Dead Hollow Trilogy is alive—mwah-ha-hah! It is a crime thriller with a touch of the supernatural, so I figured mwah-ha-hah! fits. Or just, yay! Whichever. 😊 You can read a Preview and find purchase links here. Remember, this is a true trilogy, not just a series, so do not read Book Two without first reading Book One, Prodigal. Which seems like a perfect segue… I haven’t done any Magpie Moments posts in a while (bits about real-life moments I snatched up and tucked into my fiction), and I thought Read more…

Focusing on the Finish Line: Founder Imminently in Your Hands (or Ereaders)! Preview, Anyone?

That’s right—only four more days until Founder is released! I think. Am I the only one who’s never sure how to count the number of days until something happens? Do you count the current day? And do you count the anticipated day of the event? If not, that’s a potential two-day error over a four- (or three- to five-) day span… Yeah, I might be getting a little frazzled. This past week involved a lot of last-minute formatting and uploading and re-uploading and looking at my router saying, Really? Is that all you’ve got? (And no, I’m not in data Read more…