If you’ve read my blog before, you may (or may not) have noticed that I, um, haven’t been here in (ahem) close to two years. I didn’t intend for my hiatus to be so long. I decided to take a break to focus on my own writing. Book blogging and/or reviewing can be fabulous … and time consuming and draining. I couldn’t sustain both writing and reviewing. Hence the silence.

But it’s been a productive time for me, in both my writing and my life.

Here’s a recap:

  • I worked with an editor on my WIP, a suspense tentatively titled The Color of Bones.
  • I read many novels, looking for comparative titles for The Color of Bones. I read some wonderful books and if I get a chance, I’ll do a post on my favorites.
  • I joined Sisters in Crime (SinC), a group dedicated to helping crime writing women and other marginalized peoples, and got involved in their online chapter.

This was probably one of the BEST decisions I’ve made in my writing career. I’ve learned a great deal from my sisters! I got generous feedback on my query letter (multiple drafts of it!) and synopsis (again, multiple drafts!), and I hope I can be as generous as they have been. I’ve met terrific, kind, accepting people from many walks of life.

If you write crime/mystery/suspense/thriller and are a woman or in a marginalized group, do yourself a favor and join. It is well worth the investment.

  • In December 2019 (!!), I had written a first draft in a novel about rookie journalist, Brooke, and then set it aside for almost three years. (I don’t recommend a break this long, BTW. But … 2020 happened.) Last fall, I changed that novel from a suspense to a mystery and wrote the second draft of that manuscript.
  • Last summer, I wrote a sequel to Brooke’s story. This one was emotionally difficult for me, as it tapped into some bad memories and experiences from my college years. But I think that something, somewhere in that messy first draft, is a story that needs to be told.
  • In January, I took an online class with SinC to learn about self-editing and revision.

If you have a chance to take any of SinC’s classes, I heartily recommend them. I learned a lot from the instructor, James M. Jackson,  the author of the Seamus McCree mystery series. Jim gave me a writing tip that drastically transformed how I wrote and planted clues in my work. I used it as I wrote the third draft of the first Brooke mystery. (Confused yet?)

Right now, I’m querying agents about The Color of Bones. I’m also preparing to critically reread that third draft and come up with a game plan for revision.