Josh > Recent Status Updates

When the hurly burly's done, when the battle has been won... Waking up the morning after a book is finished, formatted and uploaded is the best. Now I have a precious few eight days to catch up ALL THE THINGS before I get going for real on Scandal at the Salty Dog. Plus, it's spring! So really, life could not be better. ;-)

He grinned, handed me a glass of wine. “¡Arriba.”
“Abajo.”
“Al centro.”
“Adentro.” I drained the glass.
John whistled. “Thirsty?”
“Dutch courage.”
He was amused. “You’re not nervous about tonight? You were born with a cocktail glass in your hand.”
“True. It made for a difficult birth.”
He snorted.

IT'S COMING. I'M STILL ON TRACK. MOSTLY. ;-D

First line: Ellery Page was dreaming of New York.

(KEEP DREAMING, ELLERY. THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM PIRATE'S COVE. FOR EITHER OF US.)

YEAH, BABY! It's all over but the shouting. I.E., The editorial process. :-D I love these characters, I love this world, I love these books. I've already started the next one (which is a bad idea since that's not up next in the schedule).

HOME STRETCH!

Ellery sighed. “I’m at the cemetery.”
“You’re…”
“Want to go ghost hunting?”
“Tell me you’re kidding.” Jack did not sound at all soft and sleepy and affectionate now. He sounded wide awake and alarmed.
“I’m kidding about you wanting to go ghost hunting, yes. I have a theory.”
“So do I,” Jack said grimly.

We're getting there!

Jack glanced his way, did a doubletake. “Ahoy.” He smiled. “Wow. You look…” His light gaze flicked to Julian, took in the younger man’s possessive grip of Ellery’s arm, and something infinitesimal changed in his expression. . He said politely. “How are you, Julian?”

Like the rest of you, I'll be so glad to see the backside of 2020. I'm feeling a lot more creative and productive, and I've got lots of plans for 2021, but I'm taking it one step at a time.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop my head in to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year.

See you on the other side!

Well... Gosh. I know it's time for an update, but it's complicated. I'm writing again, enjoying writing again, but I've sort of drawn a line through 2020. I'll try to do something for the Advent Calendar and there are a couple of projects I'm still working on for this year, but basically my attention has turned to 2021. I have high hopes for the blank slate of 2021.

No progress. I just can't do it. I don't know why, but there's nothing there. For any story. For any pair of characters. I get brief flashes of energy and inspiration, and then a few pages in, it drains away. Maybe now that taxes are over? With no end in sight to the pandemic I know I *have* to somehow recover my focus, but how?

Technically, this is what's up next. There have been a lot of delays and partly that's because I'm not one hundred percent convinced I should do a sequel (after The Ghost Had an Early Check-out I resolved to never do a sequel by popular demand again). And partly because there's a lot of pain and grief--despite the comedy--in that first book. It's an emotional story. And I'm struggling with my emotions right now.

**And so it begins**

“Burglary?” Ellery asked doubtfully.
“It looks like it.” Jack selected a French fry and chewed thoughtfully.
They were having lunch on the outside patio at the Gull’s Wing Café, surrounded by July’s summer visitors to Pirate’s Cove and, yes, gulls. A lot of seagulls swooping in for the bites of burger and fried fish tourists offered up, despite the plethora of signs requesting people...

Ugh. So much research and rewriting goes into this particular series, and I just don't have that attention to detail in me right now. So I had to cancel the original Amazon preorder, but the book is now up again and scheduled for end of October. If I can't pull it together by October, I'll be looking for a new line of work. ;-) Anyway, you can RE-preorder here: https://amzn.to/3ge3onh

Now available in print! And Matt Haynes is currently working on the audio. :-)

I'll be reading from Snowball in Hell at the Thrilling Detective's hosting of Noir at the Bar Saturday May 23 at 5:00 PCT. More info here: https://thrillingdetective.wordpress....

Now that Secret at Skull House is safely launched, I'm taking a little bit of a creative breather. I'll be writing, but I'll be working on a variety of projects and I'm not aiming to hit any deadlines. I was feeling the pressure of constant deadlines even before the pandemic, so it's not surprising that I've hit a creative wall. It's not burnout--thank God--but it's very hard for me to focus. On anything, really.

The challenge of writing something light and fun and comforting during a freaking pandemic is not to be underestimated. :-D So I'm both relieved and proud of myself for managing to cross this particular finish line. My hope for this series is that it provides my readers a little shelter from the storm.

Like pretty much everyone I know, I'm struggling right now. It's hard to concentrate. I'm worried about the people I love . Sometimes writing is a wonderful refuge from the world, but other times...times like these, it's just really difficult to marshal the intense and prolonged focus necessary to create a believable imaginary world others can lose themselves in.

**JUST HITTING THE MID-WAY POINT**

Jack glanced around at the sound of Ellery’s approaching footsteps, and smiled. His teeth very white in the gloom.


“I thought you forgot.”

Ellery smiled back, his heart lightening, his earlier angst forgotten. He liked Jack. He was looking forward to having dinner with him.

Honestly, not much happening on this one beyond outlining and notes. It is very difficult to write at the moment, that's the simple truth. My focus is just not there. I'm worried and anxious and feel like there's so much else I should be concentrating on. Not that there's really so much I can do with a Safer at Home order in effect...

Gosh, this seems like a long time ago! I loved writing it, loved the way it turned out, and couldn't wait to get onto the second book. I think I'll always have fond memories of this one because it was written when all was still--comparatively--right with the world. <3

Got my Salon du Livres signing schedule! Me and my Partner in Crime (LB Gregg) will be appearing at MxM Bookmarks:



Friday March 20 : 3h30-4h25pm
Saturday March 21 : 1h30-2h25pm
Sunday March 22 : 10h30-11h25 am

GULP. THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING.

**BLIND SIDE (Dangerous Ground 6) went live this week** I'm a little bit in mourning but a lot relieved that it's safely landed. There were a lot of delays--for a long time I couldn't make my mind up about how I wanted to end the series. I knew the basic plot of this story, but how to end the actual series? So yes, relieved. But also...I'll miss you Will and Taylor.

Still outlining and brainstorming. Mainly by Moonlight was hands down my bestselling book last year and I Buried a Witch was my highest preorders ever. I admit I'm a little surprised--happy, of course!! But surprised. And preorders for BBS are very healthy. So all is good! Reassuring because of my decision to move this from trilogy to series. :-)

“You can’t be serious.” Trevor’s voice rose. “This place is practically falling down around your ears. You don’t know the first thing about running a bookstore. "

(Ellery Page should phone Adrien English STAT!)

MURDER TAKES THE HIGH ROAD in audio now on sale at CHIRP for $3.99 http://bit.ly/2Nj7yNQ

They unpacked with their typical quick efficiency—maybe less talkative than usual, but then there was no job to discuss. Or rather, the job was to get their relationship back on track. Will was reminded of that camping trip from hell in the High Sierras. The trip that had changed everything between them.

That was the hope here—and Taylor must share it too because he had agreed to this.


COMING THIS MONTH...

Having spent most of December sick and therefore comforting myself by eating ALL THE WRONG THINGS I'm really focused on getting fit again in the New Year. It's hard to stay creative and productive when you feel like...someone who has been eating snicker-doodles and chocolates for a month. Here's to all of us having a Happy and HEALTHY 2020.

***FIRST LINE: Ellery Page was thinking of murder...

First in a new series. This is going to be classic, cozy mystery (no on-page sex, no on-screen violence).

It's also going to be my first foray trying something new in Kindle Unlimited, so if you don't do KU, buy it now at the preorder sale price because when the book goes live, the price jumps and the book goes exclusive.

I need your help! Can you vote for THE MERMAID MURDERS over at TaleFlick? The object is to show interest in which book would make a great movie--it would be terrific to show an LGBT book has commercial potential for film or TV. ;-) https://taleflick.com/