It’s all about not wanting to be interrupted. I could sit at the computer for, say, 30 minutes between tasks and start working on a story. But for most writers, 30 minutes just won’t cut it—it takes that long, sometimes, to really warm up to what I’m writing. So I’m reluctant to put fingers on the keyboard unless I have some significant, quality time to write. I just can’t be rushed.

Oh, Yum.

The book launch for the Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles anthology MURDER IN LA LA LAND was just a kick! I believe nine of the 12 authors and two of the three editors made appearances at The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood. The crowd was fun and receptive, the bookstore staff was generous and accommodating. I enjoyed meeting Paul Marks, Terri Nolan, Jane DeLucchio, Kathy Kingston, Donna May, Kathleen Piche and Lenore Carlson, all extraordinary LA LA authors. I’d already had the pleasure of meeting Gabriela Vazquez,  my terrific editor Eric Stone, and it’s always a lark chatting with the witty and behatted Michael Mallory. Also on hand was the charming Naomi Hirahara, another of our fine editors. Missing were authors Jack Maeby (whom I’ve met before), Patricia Morin and Jude McGee—we’ll catch up at a future event. (Jude is off gallivanting around Spain, poor kid!)

Lots of positive feedback on my short entry, “Just Like Jay.” I’m encouraged to start writing shorts again. If I ever get my chores caught up.

Why “La-La?” The definition, “A state of being out of touch with reality,” has been applied to the residents of Los Angeles, poking fun at our oddball, possibly eccentric ways. Being the eccentrics we are, we tend to just laugh it off. Anyone who’s seen “L.A. Story” would understand. When the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime looked for a name for its newest anthology, it just seemed to fit. The call went out for short stories concerning crime with a local flare. My story, “Just Like Jay” was selected! When you see the company I’m keeping, you’ll know why I feel so honored.

MURDER IN LA-LA LAND is being published by Top Publications. As one of the anthology authors, I’m excited to announce that a launch party has been set. A favorite local bookseller has graciously arranged for us to unveil our new book amid happy festivities!

The Mystery Bookstore, Westwood, Los Angeles

Saturday May 22, 5pm

I certainly hope some of my readers will be able to come by. As it turns out, advance copies of CAPE SEDUCTION should be in hand by that time as well! (Formal release will be at Printers Row in Chicago in June.)

Although people keep asking, I’m not allowed to divulge the identity of the mysterious “Jay” in my story. I will only say that the tale involves a particularly vintage Oldsmobile, and the chance sighting of L.A.’s most beloved nighttime talk show host. Ahem.

Coming Soon! (Honest)

Aside from the notion that I am, in fact, going mad, everything seems to be fine.

Everyone is quick to say, “2010 will be better!” Even in the bank today, a customer—a stranger to me—called out the same, asking for my concurrence. I do believe that people everywhere are ready to feel better. They are ready for recovery, and their attitude may just be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I hope so.

About 2009? What do I remember? What influenced me?

John. Although most things take no particular precedence, one event does stand out above all the others: the death of our friend John. Nothing quite so profound has happened to me before. Nothing pervaded my mind so completely for so many weeks and months. The shock notwithstanding, the empathy I felt for his widow—my best friend—was, and is, enormous. Unbidden, the memory of her phone call still haunts me. It’s not something you can forget. Nor was John someone you could forget. If a man’s wealth is truly measure by the love and grief of his survivors, John was a very rich man.                               Other things….

Going back to school. So proud of myself for doing it. I enjoyed my classes, I worked very hard, was rewarded with good grades. 2010: Will resume classes in February.

My family. Hubby had to change jobs, but is working and fully recovered from his health scare of a year ago. Major thankfulness on that front. Kids are now working (yes!), and happy at their jobs. Daughter went missing, alien teenage girl took her place. Still looking for the original, but the replacement turns out to be not so bad.

My writing career.  Finished two novels, nearly finished a third. CAPE SEDUCTION is a great book, probably the best I’ve written, has a wonderful cover I had the pleasure of designing myself, and will be released soon. OLD ENOUGH, another middle grade mystery, is yet to be submitted. (My bad.) My WIP, UNMASKING PAULIE BINGHAM, is nearing completion and at the moment is a long book. Of course it will be shaved down, eventually, and I don’t look forward to that prospect. JUST LIKE JAY, a short story for Sisters-in-Crime/Los Angeles’ upcoming anthology, MURDER IN LA LA LAND, will be published this spring. Huge, puffed-out-chest-pride on that one. 2010:  Will finish Paulie’s story, will start third paranormal lighthouse mystery. Will try to work on getting OLD ENOUGH at least submitted…

Part Two to follow…..

School’s Out

School is done, for now. Political Science was a great class, I learned a ton of stuff that I somehow missed the first time around. Like, did you know the Democrats are the liberal party? Okay, I’m joking. But seriously, I enjoyed the class, finished with a 97%.

Crossing Cultures, my diversity-requirement cinema class, turned out to be much better than I thought. The sad thing was not getting to know more of the other students until the end. I did, I suppose, labor under self-imposed intimidation, being in with all those decidedly younger students. But honestly, most of them were really nice. I did my final project yesterday, a Power Point-backed discussion of my original screenplay for Unmasking Paulie Bingham. My presentation included photos of glam rockers Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Slade, George Michael, Iggy Pop, Elton John and Boy George. I backed them with audio snippets from “Rebel Rebel”, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” and “Miss Me Blind”. I talked about the history of glam rock and difficulties those rockers who were gay faced in hiding the fact. I related it to the struggles faced by the characters in my story. It all went “swimmingly” well. A+.

We had a pot luck lunch, and snacked while everyone gave their presentations. There were students who worked for a charitable organization (L.A.’s “Dream Place”) over Thankgsgiving; a girl who described the hardships her Vietnamese parents faced as boat people; a girl who exposed the fact that our community doesn’t take care of its homeless population very well. There were four people who visited the Museum of Tolerance; a guy who works with mentally challenged children and adults through the “LET ME SAIL” program. And last, a young man who made his own >2 minute film about fear between students on campus. The film was great.

I was sad that it was the last day. I made a few friends I’ll likely not see again. I hope to see Melinda, the instructor, next spring, if I can take her Film Aesthetics class. She’s a smart, savvy lady and we got along well. A class like that is more like a treat than a task.

“Just Like Jay”

I’m excited to report that Top Publications has just issued a press release for Sisters in Crime’s  Murder In La-La Land (which will include my short story, “Just Like Jay“), with a publication date of May 2010. There is talk that the anthology may be out in time for the L.A. Times Festival of Books. That would be super.

Works in Progress

Relay For Life

Happy Hannukah

Have a great week! (Note:  For some reason the formatting is screwball on this post and I don’t have the patience to fix it. Sorry…

A. Montgomery, J. Sheratt, G. Carline and Yours Truly

Have you heard the simile, “busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs”? That’s one of my favorites, and a good descriptor of my last week. Started off last weekend with my attendance—or should I be saying “appearance”—at the Duarte Festival of Authors. What a fun day! Not only did I make some new friends, I got to catch up with writer pals Jeff Sherratt, Gayle Carline and Alyssa Montgomery, all Echelon Press pubbed authors. Also ran into Patty Kokinos, author of ANGEL PARK. Patty is just a delightful person, a smart, savvy cookie who’s also warm-hearted and compassionate. She’s now touting the second release of her fictionalized account of what’s wrong with our schools. Take a moment to check out her website.

As luck would have it, Gayle, Jeff and I were all on the same mystery panel. An enjoyable, educational experience. A highlight of the day was meeting the most affable Ray Bradbury. Alyssa had him autograph a new, hardbound copy of THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, and both Jeff and Gayle gave him copies of their books.

Sunday found me at WeHo- West Hollywood Book Fair. Weather was sparkle-bright, people were nice, as always. In the Sisters in Crime/L.A. booth I rubbed elbows with buddies Diana and Darrell James and several other top-notch mystery authors. Got to meet Eric Stone, author and my editor on “Just Like Jay”, slated for publication next summer in the SinC/LA anthology, “Murder in La La Land.” Eric was gracious and complimentary, and he made a fan of me.

On Monday I attended the local “State of the City” meeting and got to listen to our city council members tell all about everything they’ve done/are doing for our fair berg. Salmon lunch was tasty, conversation was good. Touched base with several people I haven’t seen in awhile. Tuesday I got my flu shot, yee-haa, and Friday I attended the press conference for friend David Gauny, (do you like his website?) who’s throwing in his hat on the city council race for 2010. Loads of fun. Capped off the week with Taste of Expo Friday night, sampling the wares of twenty local restaurants. Well, I only sampled three of the twenty.

Took it easy all weekend, naturally! My daughter-in-law returned home from Singapore today, I’m so happy to report. (My son came back 3 weeks ago.) We are all present and accounted for. Our weather has been cool the past few days, a huge relief to many. I know I will miss the warm weather, I always do. I can’t wait for late April and our lively California sun. It’s just me, I know.

A girlfriend stopped by today and gave me a miniature Heceta Head lighthouse! She went there on vacation with her family and, having read POINT SURRENDER, she thought to bring me back a gift as this is the lighthouse on the cover. It’s so cool.

Getting lengthy so I’d best shut up now. This week should be calmer, but I know I will be back into the weird book I’m writing so it will likely fill in any free time I’d otherwise have. Oh well. It’s what I do.

Sandie Snap Treasure

It’s been a busy week. What with blog touring, cake baking, You Tubing and not-so-glamorous “day-job” stuff.

Some great news:  although I haven’t written a formal press release yet, I’m thrilled to tell you that CAPE SEDUCTION will available in e-formats this November! That’s so soon! A paperback version will follow in the spring. We are working on edits and cover art, and I need to get the ol’ potamus in gear and notch up my pre-release buzz. More–a lot more–on that to come.

And yes, the eBook scene is heating up. I have Google alerting me daily on all things digital-book, and every day there is new information coming down the pike. My publisher and I have been brainstorming on ways to sell ebooks at festivals and other public gatherings. I love the idea of flash drives being pre-loaded with an assortment of stories, along with a teaser or two for other books. Still ruminating on that idea. But the good news is, people ARE buying ebooks, and it’s getting better all the time.

West Hollywood Book Fair (WEHO), normally the last weekend in September, is on October 4th this year. I will be there, signing with Sisters In Crime Los Angeles, which is a great bunch of mystery authors. The day before, I will be at the Duarte Festival of Authors signing with fellow Echelon Press author Gayle Carlene (FREEZER BURN).

We had a thick marine layer this morning! [Read=fog] A lovely, fresh start to our dog days of August.

Hoping to attend our local Concerts in the Park tomorrow night. Each week, they have a different cover band performing, and tomorrow it’s Don’t Stop Believing doing songs by Journey. Should be good, will report back if we go.

Blog Tour! Today I am at Candid Canine, the blogsite of Christine Verstraete. Christine is the author of SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT, A MINIATURE ART MYSTERY, which is a great kid’s book. I was asked to blog about keeping young readers motivated. Not that I’m any expert, to tell the truth. My own daughter pretty much hates reading! Sunday I will be blogging at Teen Seen on one of my favorite topics:  Hollywood!

Have a great weekend, all!

PS:  I graced this page with my dog’s smiling face because she has been BARKING THE WHOLE TIME I WAS WRITING THIS BLOG!  Sheesh! She doesn’t like the neighbor’s gardeners. Get over it, girl!