March Already

February seemed to fly by, even for a short month. I did manage to accomplish my two writing goals. Neither of which involved actual writing.

This month I plan to go through a "clean" copy of HM, adding in all the comments others have made. Then I'll start the rewrite process.

I know this is going to be a long process. Deb seems to be flying through her revisions. She pointed out to me this morning that "It's not my first rodeo." She has been tweaking MMG for a few years now. I don't know if that makes me feel better or not.

In any case, working on the book again feels good.

I'll take that.

Pleasantly Surprised

I continued to read a lot of cozy mysteries during my writing break. Most were disappointing. There seem to be a lot that are bad chick lit with a little bit of crime thrown in.

When I picked up Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle, I didn't expect much. At least the cover wasn't cutesy and pink. Then writing turned out be solid. First the protagonist's job is unusual but interesting. Brooklyn's a professional book restorer who grew up in a commune. The community is now well off due to their winery. She's young and attractive, of course. Her faults really aren't. But a quirky cast of supporting characters made reading fun. The mystery was well played, and the culprit didn't come from left field.

There's a meet cute and a couple potential romantic interests for future books, but Carlisle didn't stray far into chick lit territory. Think Spellman Files light.

All in all, well done. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Which just happens to come out this month.

I Think I'm Back

Hello.

My short hiatus turned into about a year and half away from writing. I read a lot of mysteries. I also read a lot of writing books. I read books from lots of different genres, including a lot of YA. Fleur had a big hand in that last endeavor.

Friends gave advice when asked and just listened when that's what I needed. There was also a lot of encouragement from everyone. The best part of the hiatus was realizing how many great friends I have.

I think it's time to dip my toe back in the water. Part of my problem before was trying to think about more than one project at a time. Deb may work best with lots of balls in the air, but I've found that I don't. I'm going to finish HM before I get back to D&D. I know they've waited a long time to tell their story, but a month or so more won't hurt them.

The first step is a read through of what I have now, followed by compiling all the comments I received in 2008 and reading those. I'll worry about the step after that when I get there.

I'm prepared for this to take some time. That's okay. I'll still get where I want to be.