End of October

 Just as I was putting all of my summer stuff away, the weather changed and got hot and dry.  It was so weird.  On morning I awoke to fog and condensation on everything, and the next day, everything was bone dry and the air was light as silk with bright sun.  We went from having highs in the low seventies to ninety.   We never got the Santa Ana winds that were supposed to accompany the dry air.  It's a relief to me.  Those winds whip  up the wrong kind of ions that set everyone on edge.  Even more so after the fires they stirred up in January.

 I'm really glad the Santa Ana winds aren't blowing on Halloween.  It's too creepy to have all those bad ions blowing around with hoards of trick or treaters.

I am on schedule using the suggestions from my editor to revise SCONED TO DEATH.   I always go through the whole thing rather than just respond to her comments.  Since there has been some time since I worked on it, I have a fresh eye.

I am crocheting another red hen, but in a different softer yarn.  It's going to be bigger than the first one I made, and cuddlier.  

I have a little over a week to finish revising.  I'm supposed to hear about a cover next month.  I will be glad to get back to KNOT A DEAD END.  Though it is still on my mind.  I mentioned that it involves another retreat going on at Vista Del Mar for travel writers.  The new Westways magazine arrived and reading it turned out to be research. Though I was not too happy with their crossword at the end. Some of it didn't make sense or play fair.  

Now to get ready for the trick or treaters.  We have 750 bags of gummie bears.  When they're gone, it's lights out. 

Research, Writing and Ideas

            Enough about the legal stuff I’ve been blogging about for a couple of weeks. I’m about to submit my claim form, and we’ll see how that works out.  

            So now I’ve returned to the manuscript edits for the second book in my K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. I’m really enjoying it!  And number three will soon be in the works.

            Plus, I’m still researching another idea I have, and I slipped away to a local event for research last weekend. It was P-22 Day, celebrating the life of a local mountain lion who recently passed away. Still not exactly sure where that wildlife idea will take me, but I’m having fun thinking about it and looking into it.

            I’m also participating in writers’ events regarding Halloween, including the Writerspace Halloween Bash, online this afternoon. The Bash goes on for several hours, though I’ll only be there for a couple. Come peek in at the event! 

My Writer's Retreat

 I saw a post on Facebook from Mary Kay Andrews how she has gone off someplace to work on the edits of her next book.  Earlier I read about an author I know going off on a personal writers retreat to work on her next book.

The closest I'm going to come to what either of them is doing is writing about people going on a retreat.  I have been working on the KNOT A DEAD END with an eye out for the edits of SCONED TO DEATH.  I always imagine that I can work on two things at once, but it never happens.  So, when I heard from my new editor this morning that the manuscript with her comments will come to me today (she's in London so there is a big time difference), I spent my writing time today arranging everything with Casey and her crew to go on the back burner, but in such a way that I will be able to be able to pick up where I left off when I finish with SCONED TO DEATH.  

Life goes on here regardless of what I have to do.  The  Halloween decorating continues--we now have a mini graveyard in our front yard and a line of ghosts and pumpkin heads that have solar lights greet anyone coming in the back gates.  The ghost hanging from a tree finally dried out after the rain and is back to fluttering in the breeze.  

With everybody here all the time, it's a fever dream of trying to keep up with all the dishes left in the sink. Is it really such a mystery how to put dishes in the dishwasher?

But to be honest, I don't really want to go off somewhere where there is peace and quiet and control of my time.  I am fine with the noise, chaos in the kitchen, late night trips to Walmart.  Somehow we are always there just before closing, which I heard is called the zombie hour.   It is exercise walking around the huge store and the crowd is definitely interesting to look at, plus they're open when other places aren't and they have everything..

 It's quiet here in the morning most of the time and there is no one saying they're hungry or lost their keys. I have about three hours before it all starts up.

It works for me.   

 

A Little More About the Legal Stuff

             I’ve been working on the form for the settlement agreement in the pirating lawsuit that I mentioned last week, but there are still things in it that I’m not sure about. Still, theoretically at least, I should get something for each of the 45 or so books of mine on their final list. It’s changed from the first one I saw, but that’s okay. But seeing all this and doing my little part to participate makes me even happier that I was a transactional lawyer when I practiced law, and not a litigator. I enjoyed drafting and reading and negotiating contracts. But court related stuff and documentation? Not my favorite. And as I’ve always said, probably here too, contracts are just another form of fiction. And I like writing fiction!

            I’ve paused now and then in my manuscript edits for the second book in my K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense while I take the time to fill out the lawsuit form. But about to concentrate on it more again!