Back to the grind … happily.

I had a glorious weekend filled with warm weather, lawn games with friends, happy little people, and no work. The last of these elements is rather a new one to me. I've always worked on weekends (feeling much like a squirrel on a treadmill – ie., that I just can't go fast enough) which I think is a hazard for all those who are self-employed, regardless of profession.

But Kim Harrison long ago recommended weekends off – she said she not only came back to the page fresher on Monday, but practically chomping at the bit (forgive the cliché – it's mine, not hers) to get back to the WiP. After years of not listening, and admittedly not really believing this – and after mere weeks of about-facing and taking her advice – I can honestly say she's right.

Hear that, Kim? You're right.

(Ick. Pains me to say it.)

So today I'm more than ready to progress on this second draft, the goal being another hundred pages of corrected text by week's end. Every other writer in the Urban Fantasy realm seems to be headed to the RT convention in LA this week, but I'm pleased to have the time and mental space to myself just now. This book will be on my editor's desk by the month's end at the latest, so now's the time to lose myself completely.

Right now it looks entirely doable … even with restive weekends off.

Meanwhile, the infinitely supportive Publicity Mgr. at Houston's Murder by the Book in Houston posted this while I was off playing. It's entitled: Six Reasons To Read Vicki Pettersson, and I'm impossibly gratified by his humbling remarks. Remember, I'm signing at this bookstore on June 4 – only five day after THE NEON GRAVEYARD is released – so it's a relief to know that the series is so well received there.

If you're in the Houston area, please come out to see me that afternoon, 1 p.m. My signings are notoriously informal, and often end up being more exchanges between my readers and me than any sort of structured events. I like it that way. After all, that sort of communication, and deliberate touching of minds, is exactly why I write.