RAIN, SUN, LILACS, REWRITES, THE HANGMAN, WORKING ON MULTIPLE BOOKS, STORY IDEAS, BOOK COVERS

This is the second day in a row that it has continually rained, thank God.  Here in Colorado we worry a lot about grass fires as it doesn’t take much for to start.  Some idiot tossing a lit cigarette out a car window started several weeks ago.  Lightning strikes start them, and what is worse, there are some people who deliberately start them.  So PLEASE, everyone who lives in and loves this state, or any state that has hot dry summers, be careful that you don’t start a fire.  Well, off my soapbox.  All this glorious rain has brought out the flowers on the lilac bushes.  They are loaded with blossoms this year.  Granted, they’re a bit droopy from the rain, but still beautiful.

Well, I have been busy doing a rewrite of THE STONE KILLER.  Several people, who have read the book, tell me that is seems as if I was in a rush to get it finished and left a lot out.  After careful review and deep thought, they are right.  So over the last couple of weeks, I have gone through the story, from the beginning, and added information about the people, the investigation and the suspects.  I think this will make a better novel.  Why I was in such a rush with the story, I don’t know.  I normally don’t do that, and certainly will not do it again.  So folks, learn from my mistakes, don’t be in a hurry to publish a novel until you are completely sure you have told the full story.  Get other people’s opinion before you do publish.  Your readers are invaluable and we owe them a full story.

I am hard at work on THE HANGMAN, and I am taking my own advice and making sure to write the story completely as it unfolds.  I’m not rushing this book.  Also, I add bits of information that jump in my head about the other books, THE SNATCHER, THE JUDGE, and THE  GARDNER.

Do any of you find it strange when story ideas just jump in your head, along with a mental picture of the book’s cover?  I had that happen to me while working on the rewrite of THE STONE KILLER.  I’ve jotted the outline for each down to be added to the long list of characters who are waiting for their stories to be told.  So, time to get back to work.  Unfortunately, these books will not write themselves.  I don’t know how some authors write more than one or two books a year.

Good luck everyone.  Also, have a great week and stay safe.

Dreamah

CREATION OF AN IDEA, NIPPY WINTER, CATS AND SEX, AND CAR PLATES

Cat (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

For those of you who  have not read ‘A Circle of Murders’, give it a try.  No, there is not a lot of sex in the book, but it is a good story.  The story happened due to an actual abduction of a young girl in Tampa, Florida.  Her body was never found. To say that her story haunted us does not fully describe it.  We couldn’t forget that lost child.  But we knew that if all the resources at hand could not find her, the only way  she could be brought home was to create a story of how a young abducted did find her way home.  So we wrote Sarra’s story.  Give it a try, you might like it.

A fact that fills me with joy, we only have another 106 pages to go on editing Kathryn Crown and then it is format time and upload to CreateSpace and Amazon.   And there is sex in Kathryn Crown.  And keep and eye out for ‘The Stone Killer’, you can’t have romance without sex.

Speaking of SEX, my young and small female cat, Bandit, who I thought was a male thus the name, has come into heat.  I now know more than I ever wanted to know about the mating ritual of cats.  Oh, as soon as I find a veterinarian this problem will be resolved.  If not for my sanity, which is undoubtedly questionable, but for my cat’s.  So needless to say it is a bit noisy in my house.  She is very vocal about her what she wants.  And my neutered male cat, Pyewacket, seems to say, “Oh yes, I remember that activity, but I can’t help you now”.  I don’t need kittens running around, so Bandit is not allowed outside.  In fact, my cats are house cats.

Anyway, winter is again nipping at the door and it is wonderful to see the slashes of gold on the mountains.  I am filled with happiness from being back in Colorado.  I am also thrilled I now have new Colorado license plates to put on my vehicle, even if it did cost a couple hundred dollars.  My life is filled with writing, oil painting and the joy and hard work these two crafts I have been blessed with.  My sister and I work hard to make our stories, which are based on actual incidents, as well written and entertaining possible.

Well, it is late here in Colorado and my bed is calling me.  I hope you all had a fantastic day.  Take care and stay safe.

 

 

WISHES, BACK TO MURDER & MAYHEM, WRITING, EDITING & NOVEL IDEAS

New ideas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CREATING KATHRYN CROWN  is in the final stages of editing and will be uploaded soon.

I’ve always said, be careful what you wish for.  When your life is filled with regret and sorrow and you long to escape by wishing to be someone else, be careful.  It could happen to you as it did to our character Kathryn.   She is on her way to celebrate her birthday by having dinner with her grandmother.  The next thing she knows, she wakes up two-thousand miles from home with someone else’s face and a husband she has never seen before.   So be careful, wishes do come true.

My detective JT Huntington has his team desperately searching for their missing team member, Caroline Jones.  They will find her, but too late.  THE STONE KILLER  has done his work well. And now he is on the hunt for his next victim. Too soon, he will begin stalking the main character, Morgan Jansen, the identical twin of his victim, Marilyn Heddrix.

My sister and I hope to have this novel finished and uploaded by the end of the year.  That would be a great way to start the New Year.

Since we have several novels in various stage of completion, we should be able to finish three next year.  But as the old saying goes, the best laid plans sometime don’t happen.  We will certainly give it a try.

What a surprise.  While writing this blog, the idea for another novel popped into my head complete with a title.  Sometimes that’s the way it happens with me.  A title will jump into my mind and I will even have the characters names and how they are involved in the story.  Needless to say, I quickly jotted all these thoughts down so I don’t lose them.  This way the story is not lost.   I love creating the loves and lives of people, running the gauntlet of emotions mixed with the conflicts they must overcome.

Being a writer is the greatest job and the toughest.  Writing isn’t easy.

Well, I have to get back to work and help find Caroline’s body.  Alfons, her ex-lover and coworker, is going to be devastated.

I hope everyone has a great day.   Stay safe.