All silliness aside, I am thrilled to be a part of this 8th annual event benefiting breast cancer patients of the Santa Clarita Valley. The weather has been ordered up special, too.

Besides sponsoring a table (mine this year is “Snowy Night”), I am donating copies of my first lighthouse mystery, POINT SURRENDER, to all attendees. I’m happy to do it. And should any of my new 300+ fans wish to buy CAPE SEDUCTION, I’m passing along $3.00 from their purchase to Circle of Hope. In fact, I’ll make that deal to anyone who happens along here between now and year end. Just click HERE to take advantage of this special offer. (Sounding a little like a TV commercial!)

Pam & Kwei

To lighten the tone after my last cranky post, here’s a snapshot taken yesterday at Barnes & Noble, Valencia, California. Kwei Quartey is the author of the Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery series, the most recent of which is CHILDREN OF THE STREET. Kwei is a delightful guy and I’m always glad to see him. He periodically sends me lighthouse photos he snaps while traveling, most often from Ghana, his home country.

Big thanks to Jackie Vick and Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles for setting up our panel discussion. Also to Lori Christian of Barnes and Noble, a most gracious and knowledgeable hostess! We’re hoping to put together a lighthouse discussion in the future.

If you missed this event, all of our books are available at Barnes and Noble, as well as that other big online bookseller you might know about.

Our Lovely Tree

Happy New Year.

Have been thinking about what to say, but I’m so late I’m afraid all the good topics have already been written. And it’s already the 4^th; folks are probably DONE hearing about how bad the ending of LOST was, how sad it was when so-and-so passed away, how shocking it was to see Miley sucking on a bong. Okay, maybe not so shocking, that.

And the year to come? My plans? I have plenty. In the writing arena, I’ve made some decisions concerning my backlist, which has been just sort of sitting without much support from me. These three books are going to get a minor makeover and be re-released under my own publishing byline by this spring. New edits, new covers, new prices. I mean, why not?

Becoming a publisher means I can publish some other things, too, experimental works and some shorts for a couple of

Great Room Ready for Drywall

new authors just wanting to dip a toe in the water. I’ll need an editor or two, and some help with the cover art. Cover art must be first rate, it’s the very first impression and if it’s shoddy or amateur, no level of quality in the book will make a difference.

That being said, my books with Echelon (CAPE SEDUCTION, POINT SURRENDER) will stay with Echelon. I have no desire to move them, and will continue to promote them alongside my newly released backlist work. If I’m right, all will benefit. I will focus heavily on ebooks this year (as if I haven’t for twelve years already!), although with the help of sites like Amazon’s CreateSpace I can re-release my older books in paperback as well. I’m glad for that, for those people still digging in about paper.

Once I reach a level of completion with this project, I’ll be able to resume work on my next lighthouse mystery. ANGEL’S GATE is started, but I felt it was heading toward a proverbial cul-de-sac and I need to back up and take a turn. I’m hoping to be able to convince the PTB to let me inside the real Angel’s Gate Lighthouse in Los Angeles Harbor. I just need to meet the right person!

Upcoming:

On January 22^nd, I’ll be speaking at the Blanchard Community Library in Santa Paula, California. The topic? Lighthouses, of course! Specifically, California’s lighthouses, and how they helped shape our history (it is California history month, after all.) I will focus on a few specific beacons, then segue into those that inspired my work. Really looking forward to this event.

Considering Romantic Times Convention on April 8 at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. Pricy, but lots of fun. Will advise.

April 30/May 1, in addition to my yearly stint signing with Sisters in Crime/LA, I’m joining a small consortium of authors in a booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, this year being held at the University of Southern California. I hope UCLA fans won’t stay away!

The cabin in the mountains is coming along nicely! Should be done late February. I can’t wait to hunker down with my books and hot toddy before a roaring fire…

Outgoing:

Over the holidays, my niece and I took a day off and drove up to Santa Barbara for lunch. To our astonishment, both Barnes and Noble and Border’s were selling out their inventories, both closing their doors on December 31^st. These stores are across the street from each other. I guess Santa Barbara book buyers will have to turn to the web. And ebooks?

Speaking of those minute miracles, I am rapidly filling up the new COLOR NOOK my husband bought me for Christmas! Man, do I love this device. I’ve always been somewhat of a gadget person, but this thing is fab. Does almost all that an iPad does – for half the money. I’ve loaded it up with songs, photos, books – I can do a crossword puzzle, check Facebook, write an email and edit my latest manuscript – and I can do it in the dark!

Follow up:

Further to my “Long Lost Relatives” post, I was contacted by my newly discovered cousin’s ex-wife. I wrote her back, giving her all the info I had and the one photo from my website. She has yet to respond, but I can wait. It’s been my whole life, after all.

So a few words.

Connor Davian

My delightful little grandson was born 4 weeks ago today. He’s already playing Scrabble and longboarding down the street. Well, maybe not. But he’s holding his bitty head up now and again! Little sweetie. My dear son and dearest DIL are settling in to the routine. Her wonderful parents are visiting from Singapore. All good.

Our cabin seems to be constructing itself right before our amazed eyes. Might be occupied by mid January (?) (!)  There is snow up there now, but the roof is on and the windows are installed. All good.

Thanksgiving was super good. I brined the turkey for the first time. Made wonderful gravy-for the first time. Daughter made chipotle mashed sweet potatoes that were spicy and yum. Lotsa work, lotsa fun, very thankful and all good.

On the down:  My 2 month old Kodak EasyShare broke. I have to mail it to Kodak, at my expense, for repair.

I have been summoned for Jury Service at the U.S. District (Fed) Court in downtown Los Angeles. If called, I will have to board a bus at 6:30 am tomorrow and ride for 1.25 hours to the courthouse, then repeat after 5 pm to come home. I am stressing beyond belief. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s a phase in my life.  A few years ago it wouldn’t have bothered me much. But now, I’m a wreck. And I have to be on-call for 2 weeks. Bleh.

Did you know that Grand Jury appointments last for 6 or 12 months? Yep, you have to go once a month for the duration. Somebody hand me a Tums?

PS – I’m supposed to remind everyone that POINT SURRENDER is still on sale at Amazon & BN.com! Just 99 cents for your reading pleasure…

May I have a drum roll please? Contest time! Jeepers, I had a lot of entrants. Have written all the names down on tiny fortune-cookie-sized papers and folded them up. Have dropped them into the beautiful ceramic bowl my son made in high school. Have stirred them. Have woken my teenaged daughter from her after-school nap and made her dip her fingers into the bowl. Draw one please?

But wait! No, I’m thinking I’m feeling very generous today. Pick THREE. Yes, dear, pull out three and then go back to bed.

WINNER #3 – DEIDRE DURANCE

WINNER #2 – CAITE MAIRE

and (drum roll quickens, ascends, ceases!)

WINNER #1 – SUSAN GRISCOM! Susan, you’ve won your choice of a $25 giftie card from everybody’s favorite big box book bin, Barnes & Noble… or 5 ebooks of your choice from Echelon Press!!

Deidre and Caite each win a copy of one of my books!

Well done, bloggers!!

And thanks ever so much to Karen for hosting me today! In the words of our immortal governator, “I’ll be back!”

Later today I’ll be drawing the winner’s name in my Blog Tour contest! Yep, everyone who went to my excerpt page and posted a comment about CAPE SEDUCTION, and those who commented along the way in my blog tour will be in the running for free books!

Stop over at the Echelon Press blog for another chance to win. Tell Karen I sent you and she’ll give you a good seat.

High points (and pun slightly intended) were the lighthouses. Sigh. First, Point Cabrillo, just north of Mendocino, California. Darlingest little beacon. No tours (the tower was chained off) and the main floor is now a gift shop. DD and I romped around taking photos and complained because I’d left my wallet with DH, down the road.

Next was Battery Point in Crescent City. We stayed at (where else?) The Lighthouse Inn. Lovely people, and a lobbyful

The Glamorous, Success Author at Battery Point

of lighthouse pictures and artifacts. INCLUDING a huge wall mural of St. George Reef Lighthouse, which figures prominently in my new book, CAPE SEDUCTION! How hauntingly apropos. Staff was lovely. They agreed to display my rack cards!

Battery Point is a beautiful lighthouse, accessed only at low tide. DD and I took a tour. The docents were volunteers who get a month of lighthouse keeping at a time, and the waiting list is LONG. I passed out bookmarks and postcards to two very giddy lighthouse loving ladies.

Last was one of my favorites, Heceta Head Lighthouse in Yachats, Oregon. One of the most photographed beacons in the U.S. Another tour, lots of good info.

The Astonishing Heceta Head

Great gift shop (had my wallet this time!!) Could have stayed here all day. This lighthouse is on the cover of POINT SURRENDER. Heceta Head, by the way, is on tap for a major facelift next year. Needs it, badly.

Couldn’t see them all. Passed several up on the way, hopefully to be visited another time. I’ll be traveling back to my brother’s house in late August, at which time we’ll visit Point No Point Lighthouse. Can’t wait!

St. George Reef inside The Lighthouse Inn!

Evidence of decay. Still beautiful

Signing!

It’s so nice to meet new fans at a book fair. One lady hugged POINT SURRENDER to her chest and said she couldn’t wait to read it! Is that cool, or what? I sold a lot more books than I thought I would, especially with all the competition and the state of the economy. I regret that I didn’t get to see Michael J. Fox; he has a new book out and I can’t wait to read it.

Lots of fun hanging out with the other Echelon authors and the Fairy people, Bobbie and Harry Hinman. They have a new Fairy book coming out this summer, The Belly Button Fairy!

Always nice seeing my publisher, Karen Syed, and fellow authors Jenny Turner and Jeff Sherratt. New this year was Gayle Carline and Teresa Burrell, both with brand-spanking new releases. What a thrill for them! Another delightful person, Melinda Richarz Bailey was beside me, offering up the humorous and entertaining “WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty.”

A surprise was meeting radio show host Megan Willingham. I appeared on Megan’s “Writers, Authors N’ More” program last fall. She is just the most gracious lady, and she is excited about my upcoming release, CAPE SEDUCTION. A real thrill to meet her in person!

Happily, teen author Alyssa Montgomery arrived midday on Saturday, selling her teen ebooks and impressing everyone with her wit and charm.

On Sunday, I took a break from the Echelon tribe and headed over to Sisters In Crime, where I signed for 2 hours and enjoyed meeting many new mystery fans. All in all, a fabulous weekend! Maybe soon I’ll get my voice back.