Annette Dashofy's Blog, page 7

Progress!

After a whirlwind November, I'm finally at a place where I can catch my breath just in time for the holidays. 

After doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last year for the first time, I'd sworn I would never do it again. True, it had allowed me to complete my first draft of the next Zoe Chambers mystery, but I hadn't needed the "goal" number of 50,000 words to do that. 50K in 30 days is sheer madness. At least it is for my personal process. 

However, as I wrote back in June, I had abandoned a manuscript that wasn't selling to start something else. The Something Else hasn't sold either, and the characters from the first of those manuscripts were clambering to have their stories told. So I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2021 with abandoned manuscript #1 as my project. I'm thrilled to report that a.) I topped my 50K goal within the month of November and b.) I completed the rest of the first draft within the first week of December. Typing THE END is such a sweet moment for every writer. 

In the midst of NaNo, I received my first edits back on Fatal Reunion (Zoe Chambers #11). Celebration! They were minimal! Once my NaNo project was finished, I tackled those and sent the revised manuscript back to my editor. 

Two major projects off my plate for the moment!

That left my annual Christmas short story. 

In case you aren't aware, every Christmas Eve, I post a new short story on the Subscribers Only page of my website and send the password in my newsletter. The only way you can access the FREE short story is to be a subscriber. If you haven't signed up yet, go to my website and fill in your name and email. If you do it before this Christmas Eve, you'll still get the password for last year's story, which will be there until I replace it with the new one.

(If you've missed all the previous short stories, I've put them together as a collection titled Crime in the Country. It's available on Amazon for Kindle, Barnes & Noble for print and Nook, AND signed copies are available from Mystery Lovers Bookshop. You can also click HERE to find it on other ebook platforms.) 

So from now until the end of the month (YEAR!) I'm doing some minor rewriting on the NaNo project (mostly, I'm letting it sit and simmer a while) and catching up on my reading. Wishing you all a happy holiday season and some time to breathe and rest up as well. 

Books and TV

Last weekend...and the start of this week...have been sheer madness. Some good, some bad, heavier on the good.

The week ended with the sudden and unexplained death of our ancient TV. On the other hand, I guess the mere fact that it was ancient makes its demise explainable. The bad part was the timing. It seems smaller televisions are a rare commodity these days thanks to distribution chain issues. Normally, I'd research online, make a decision, and click BUY. 

I will say, having no TV resulted in a couple of productive days. It also made for a grumpy and bored husband. By Saturday night, I'd tracked down what had to be the only set matching my criteria within several hundred miles. I clicked BUY along with the option to pick it up the next day. (Seeing the words "last one in stock" tends to nudge me to stop researching and show them the money.)

Sunday morning, my no longer grumpy and bored husband and I drove to Oakmont PA and Mystery Lovers Bookshop to attend a personal appearance by Craig Johnson. I make no secret about the fact he's one of my favorite authors. I might even be slightly guilty of stalking the man, having traveled to Cincinnati, Erie, and even Green Bay, Wisconsin to hear him speak. (In my own defense, I was going to be in Green Bay anyway.) You better believe I would be there when I only had to drive an hour. 

Plus, I'd been given the honor of introducing him to the hometown crowd. 

Craig has a gift for storytelling. If you haven't read any of his Longmire books, start with The Cold Dish. This year's release, Daughter of the Morning Star, is one of my favorites of the entire series. Still, start at the beginning. If you're like me, you'll binge-read your way through the first sixteen books. 

After the event and after hanging out at the bookstore with Craig and his wife, Judy, for a while, we headed toward home with a stop at Target to pick up our new TV. While there, I received an email from my new editor at my new publisher. Although the new Zoe Chambers mystery wasn't due to them until later this month, she had time in her schedule NOW. Thankfully, it was "ready." I'd been tinkering with it and would continue to do so until the very last minute, so the request saved me from myself. 

Yes, the eleventh Zoe Chambers is officially in the publishing pipeline.

Back home, with the manuscript sent off to Level Best Books, we started setting up the TV. Or trying to. I like to think I'm moderately tech-savvy where these things are concerned. I could get it to stream Prime, but couldn't get it to connect to either the cable box or the DVD player. We called over my grandnephew who is not only tech-savvy but is young. Something about that combination usually helps in these cases. 

Not this time. He was stymied as well. I felt a little better about myself. But nervous about the prospect of the last set in stock meeting my criteria having to be returned.

We watched Leverage: Redemption on Prime. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.

Monday, I called our cable company's tech support. I listened to the clatter of computer keys as the tech guy tried to solve my problem. I'd already done everything he recommended. He was stumped and said he'd send someone out. 

Now here's the joy of having a small-town cable company located four miles away. Two young tech-savvy guys showed up at my door a couple hours later. I never got that from Verizon.

I got the impression that one of the tech guys was less savvy and was in training. But the savvy one got to work. Within a minute, he'd synced the cable box's remote control with the new set. I'd have never figured that one out, so YAY. But when it came to getting the set and box to talk to each other, nothing. He sat on my floor and said, "Huh." This is not a good sound coming from the tech-savvy cable guy. 

It took some puzzling and switching of cables (I'd already done that at least three times) and switching them back, but suddenly, the picture and sound were there! "What'd you do?" I asked.

He'd unplugged it and plugged it back in.

Duh.

I had done that. But I hadn't left it unplugged long enough. I learned something Monday afternoon. Leave electronics unplugged for at least a minute before plugging them back in. 

We have a functioning new TV. I still worry every time I turn it off. Will it come back on? But so far so good.

I'm Back. Again.

Somehow, I've once again managed to let several months fly by without checking in here. I could offer up a multitude of excuses, all valid, but instead, let me just do a quick catch-up. 

The garden did extremely well but is done now. 

I've been kept busy doing both in-person and virtual book events. It's been wonderful seeing people in 3-dimension instead of just in a little box on a computer screen.

I got to interview my good friend Liz Milliron during her launch party for Harm Not the Earth at Mystery Lovers Bookshop

Hanging out with Jennifer Diamond after I presented the keynote at the Festival of Books in the Alleghenies
Doing a reading at the Festival of Books in the Alleghenies

One day in September, we had waterfront property, courtesy of Hurricane Ida. Thankfully, the floodwaters didn't quite make it to the house.

Earlier this month, I released my second indie-published book. Not a full-length novel, but instead, a collection of short stories featuring the characters from the Zoe Chambers mysteries.

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you may have already read them. But if you missed one or if you want them all in one place OR if you know of someone who might like a quick read as a Christmas gift, Crime in the Country is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or just about anywhere. You can go to my website and choose your preferred vendor. (Note: you can also support indie booksellers and receive a SIGNED copy if you order from Mystery Lovers Bookshop! Just sayin'.)

Looking ahead, Death By Equine has been picked up by Tantor Media and will come out in AUDIO in March! 

It's also going to be available on the Scream app from Crazy Maple Studio. I'm still learning about this new platform for readers, so stay tuned for updates. 

In the slightly nearer future, there's NaNoWriMo. Last year, I participated and completed a first draft of what will be the next Zoe Chambers mystery, coming Spring of 2022. THIS year, I'm again participating with the hopes of completing the first draft of the manuscript that was placed on the back burner this summer. It still isn't under contract, but I want to see how the story plays out!

Once again, I'm determined to post here more often. Keeping you updated on my NaNoWriMo goals and accomplishments should motivate me!

The Week in Review

As I wrote last month, I was starting a new proposal for a new book and new series. On July 5, I turned those three chapters and a synopsis in to my agent. By the end of that week, she returned them to me with edits. Early this week, I sent the corrections to her along with the other assorted material needed for her to create her query. On Tuesday, she started sending it out to our first tier of editors.

 

Which places me back in the position of waiting for the new round of rejections to roll in.

 

Now you may think I’m sounding defeatist. In truth, I’m anything but. What I am is a realist. I’m shooting for the stars with some of the publishers we’re targeting. This isn’t my first rodeo. I know the story and/or my writing won’t appeal to everyone. There’s no avoiding it. There will be rejections.

 

However, there are a few of those publishers that keep me crossing my fingers.

 

The other thing that kept me occupied this week was More Than Malice, a virtual conference organized to fill the void (and hopefully the coffers) of the now twice canceled Malice Domestic. I was thrilled and honored to be invited to take part.

My panel, “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” also included Hank PhillippiRyan, Tori Eldridge, Brad Thor, and Marcia Clark (of the O.J. Simpson trial fame). We recorded it a couple of weeks ago, which is good because we had some hefty storms here yesterday just prior to its airing. The whole thing was wildly fun.

 

And last night, the Agatha Awards were given out. You would think since I wasn’t nominated this year, I’d have been totally relaxed. But I was still on the edge of my seat, applauding the nominees, cheering my friends, and congratulating the winners.

 

The hugs and celebratory toasts will have to wait until next year. 

Mental Health Day, July 2021

Following up on my previous post, I completed the three chapters and synopsis for another new series proposal and just clicked "send" so it will be waiting in my agent's inbox when she returns to her office tomorrow. 

Saturday, I took another mental health day. I can't even disguise it as a research trip. My husband and I took a day trip east to the Laurel Highlands' Amish Country. 

We did a little shopping and then turned south into Maryland. We had lunch at Penn Alps and then wandered around a while.

It was odd that this is a place I had visited once long ago for a quilt show, but he had never been there. Often, we think there isn't any place within a two-hour drive we haven't seen. More than once. 

We thought wrong. 

After a full day of seeing new sights, we came home exhausted but relaxed. 

Now I'm buckling down to finish another round of revisions on the next Zoe Chambers mystery. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm noodling over the plot for the NEXT one. 

Always Beginning, Never Ending

Any time I've been asked to give a keynote address or inspiration talk or been asked for my advice to beginning writers, I've always said the same thing. 

Finish the book. 

So many aspiring novelists get a great idea and start writing. A few chapters in, they get bored or bogged down. Maybe they fall out of love with the idea and come up with a better one. They put the project aside and start a new one. A few chapters later, they encounter the same roadblock to completion. 

These aspiring novelists can have several partials sitting on their computer, but they never reach THE END. And guess what. If you don't have a completed manuscript, even a crappy one, you have nothing to polish and nothing to submit to an agent or editor. 

Hence, FINISH THE BOOK.

Now, eleven published novels in, I've encountered the other side of the coin. As a proven author, all I need these days is a proposal. Three chapters, a synopsis, and a marketing plan. 

For my first couple of proposals, I thought the synopsis was the hard part. And it is! But as the rejections roll in, I'm now expected to create another proposal. No, don't finish that last book. Start a new one. 

What the heck?

After investing months of research and plotting...after getting to know my new characters and hearing them in my head in the wee hours, I now have to put them on hold for goodness only knows how long and start over.

Yes, I know. I can write and self-publish it. A smaller press may want it. But FOR NOW, I've put the story and the characters on the back burner.

I've plotted out yet another story. Created histories for a new set of characters. This week, I started with Chapter One yet again. I love my new protagonist and can't wait to get to know her better. But all I need right now are three chapters and a synopsis.

What I want is to FINISH THE BOOK. 

On the Road Again...Sort of

The last time I traveled was to Dallas in late 2019. While I had plans for lots of trips in 2020, we all know what happened to those.

I had a list of things I wanted to do and places and people I wanted to visit as soon as it was possible. Now that we're fully vaccinated, I've been checking those items off. 

One of the places I longed to return to was Lake Erie and Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. I had enough points earned for a free night in a hotel. I made my reservations.

Plans started looking hinky a week ago when Hubby came down with a cold. I was on the verge of canceling, but by mid-week, he was feeling much better. He wanted to go. So I packed. 

Friday, friends we were supposed to meet up with for Saturday dinner got called away on a family emergency. 

Still, we went. 

The weather was lovely. 

There was a Hudson car show in our hotel's parking lot. 

I want one. 

Another friend had arranged for me to meet an Erie detective and tour the police department. Since I'm currently working on TWO proposals for new series and both are at least partly set in Erie, I was excited to delve deeper into my research.

I left Hubby to explore the Maritime Museum and took my tour. I got lots of great info and answers to my questions. 

Erie Police Department

With that done, we were free to spend the rest of the weekend having fun. 

Except in the wee hours of Saturday night, I started feeling crappy. Hubby's cold finally caught up to me. We checked out at 6:30 Sunday morning and were home three hours later. 

I haven't yet mentioned Kensi. She has embraced the idea of having her human home all the time. She was not exactly happy when we abandoned her. As soon as I dumped the contents from my backpack, she climbed in. And this is the expression I've been dealing with ever since. 

I do have more travel plans coming up this fall. And I want to take another weekend trip to Erie once I'm sniffle-free to make up for what I didn't accomplish this weekend.

Sorry, Kensi.

Gardening

As I write this, it's chilly and rainy outside. But for a few days AFTER the dove family moved off my porch and BEFORE the weather turned ugly, I jumped in and got some outdoor work done.
We lowered the porch swing and power-washed it, the porch, and the other outdoor furniture. It looks good if I do say so myself! I also hit the greenhouse and bought some herbs and veggies...and a few flowers. 
The gutters had fallen off our old horse barn. Rather than scrap them, my husband and I came up with the idea of using them for my herb garden. We spray-painted them copper and nailed them up on the framework of the side porch. I planted oregano, thyme, dill, cilantro, parsley, and two kinds of basil. I need to get more dirt to finish filling the gutter/planters, but so far, so good. In my cold frame, the lettuce is about ready to be harvested and the spinach will be ready in a few more weeks. My husband planted tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and beets in the regular garden. 
I haven't gotten my impatiens planted yet. I have to wait for a break in the rain. But at least everything is getting watered in really well!
And while it rains, I'm writing a new book! More on that soon.

Empty Nester

During a warm spell last month, I decided to get my front porch ready for outdoor living. We always load our outside furniture onto our oak porch swing up for winter storage and hoist it all up to the porch roof. When I stepped outside one spring day, a mourning dove made a dramatic exit from that stored furniture. Closer inspection revealed not only a hastily thrown-together stick nest but two eggs. 

Well, crap. I couldn't very well disturb them. Even simply coming and going through our front door sent Mama screeching off the nest. 

We started using the side door. Not really a hardship. It's closer to the garage anyway. And the spring weather gave way to a resurgence of winter and rain, so it wasn't like we were missing out on lovely evenings on the porch swing. 

I kept an eye on the nesting mama bird, and she kept an eye on me. 

The eggs hatched without my knowing, since I was trying to avoid scaring the skittish dove. Next thing I knew, there was a baby bird!

But was there only one?

Nope. Both eggs had hatched and both baby doves looked quite healthy. 

Yesterday, Mama Dove decided the babies were old enough and left the nest. The little ones gradually made their way out of the sticks and all the way to the back of the porch swing.

By evening, they moved to the porch railing where they were still perched before dawn this morning. 

When the sun came up, they were gone. 

Have a great life, baby doves! 

Meanwhile, now that I'm an empty nester, I'm reclaiming my porch swing...after I power wash it.   

Release Day!

It's finally here. 

Over the last few years, I've averaged a book release every 8 or 9 months. The time from story concept to publication has been reasonably short. My first published novel, Circle of Influence, took seven years to make it from me typing "Chapter One" to finding a publisher to hitting the bookstore shelves. 

Death by Equine has languished for SIXTEEN years. I wrote it a couple of years before Zoe and Pete hatched in my brain. I signed with an agent for it. It didn't sell. The agent and I parted company. I put it aside, started, and completed Circle. Another agent expressed interest in Equine (although it was called something else back then. Even the title has been on a twisty path to publication). Zoe and Pete were shoved to the back burner while I revised Equine. Still nothing happened publication-wise. I put it away once again, found a publisher for Zoe and Pete, and never looked back.

Sort of.

Every so often, someone who'd read and/or critiqued an early version would ask me about that racetrack mystery. Never wanting to say never, I hemmed and hawed and kept dodging the question.

After Til Death, the 10th of the Zoe Chambers mysteries came out and my contract was up, I puzzled over what was next. I decided it was time to revisit Dr. Jessie Cameron and the old racetrack mystery. 

After passes through my critique group and freelance editor, I deemed Death by Equine ready for primetime. And for my first foray into indie publishing. 

Here we are. Release day! Jessie, Meryl, Greg, and Daniel have set out into the world. So far, the early reviews have been encouraging. 

If you haven't read it, I hope you will. If you have read it, I hope you liked it. 

Now, back to work on the next Zoe Chambers mystery.