New Cover

I'm on deadline, trying to get the fourth candy shop mystery finished, polished, and onto my editor's desk by the 1st of September, so I'm trying hard not to spend a lot of time online right now ... but I recently received the cover for PEPPERMINT TWISTED (coming December 2007) and I wanted to share with my readers!

Yesterday, it was spring at my house. Sixty degrees, lovely, sunny. Tulips had broken through the soil. This morning, I woke up to this:

The pictures don't really do it justice. First, I took them with a phone camera. Second, the angle doesn't really show that there's at least 5" of snow there at 7:00 in the morning. And third, you can't feel how cold it is!

But it doesn't really matter because I'm celebrating this morning. First, yesterday I finally shipped the completed manuscript of PEPPERMINT TWISTED. To the best of my knowledge, it's scheduled for December 2007 release, but I'll keep you posted if that changes. And second, today I get to spend time with the World's Most Incredible Grandchild for the second time this week.

Now I ask you . . . if you were me, wouldn't you drive through a raging snowstorm to get to that child???

Rainy Sunday

It's a rainy Sunday, and I'm feeling lazy. For the past couple of nights, I've been sleeping like an actor in an Ambien ad -- the one who falls asleep and then wakes up over and over again. I don't have a little lamp bouncing around over my head, but I might as well for all the sleep I'm getting.

I'm not sure whether it's me waking on my own, or the dog keeping me awake. She's been acting out for the past couple of days, ever since my oldest daughter accidentally spilled a little garlic-butter sauce on the dog's thigh. Apparently Angel doesn't like garlic-butter sauce. We've tried washing it out of her fur, but her nose is much more sensitive than ours are, I guess. I can't smell it, but I'm guessing she can. That may be why she nudges me awake once an hour.

Life is finally calming down (knock wood). My mother is recovering from my father's death little by little, and Miss Abigail is doing extremely well. She came home the week before Christmas, and she's thriving. After spending the first three months of her life in an incubator with very little human touch, she loves, loves, loves to be held. By the strangest stroke of luck, Grandmom loves, loves, loves to hold her --which means that the two of us get along very well.

She's a very hard worker, our Little Miss Abigail. You have no idea how long it took her to get that thumb in her mouth, but she never gives up! She's truly an inspiration -- and a miracle.

On top of all that, I even feel as if I'm getting my brain back (yay! It's been a long, foggy time!) so I'm actually able to write again without feeling as if I'm sawing off a limb while I'm doing it. I've had a lot of e-mail asking about the third book in the candy shop mystery series. For those who've asked, I'm hard at work on the book (Peppermint Twisted) even as we speak, and assuming I can actually get it finished in the next couple of weeks, it's slotted for December 2007 release.

So while I'm here, curled up under a blanket on a wet Sunday morning, I want to send out a HUGE thank you to readers who haven't given up on me! It means more to me than I can say.

Where Did the Month Go?

I could swear I blogged here just a couple of days ago, yet when I looked at the blog this morning, I realized it has been two whole weeks! I'm not sure how that happened. 

I mean, sure, it's been busy around here. I've been working on PEPPERMINT TWISTED, the third book in the candy shop mystery series, and when the work is going well (which, thankfully, it is) the days seem to fly by. 

Because the book is set around Paradise's Arts Festival, I decided to spend a day at a local arts festival over Labor Day weekend. I had a lot of fun, but I wish I'd had a whole lot more money with me since I found way too many things I wanted to bring home with me. I did buy one picture for myself and one for my oldest daughter, who went with me, but I managed to refrain from buying everything that caught my eye. 

After the Arts Festival, we stopped by an antique store. I haven't done a lot of antiquing in my life, but I think it's something I could acquire a taste for all too easily. I guess I also lost track of time because I had another critique weekend with my critique partners, I gave a speech to a local writing group, and it was my birthday last week. I turned 38. Again. 

If you don't believe me, ask my kids. The birthday cake they made me even said so. And no, I'm not going to tell you how many times I've turned 38 already. That's not the point. The point is . . . well, there is no point, I guess. Or if there was one, I've forgotten it. Maybe that's what happens when you turn 38 too many times.

When I was younger, my mother warned me that time moved faster when you were an adult, and she's right. It seems like this Blink-And-Two-Weeks-Are-Gone thing is happening to me more often than it used to. Remember when it used to take a decade or two for your birthday to roll around every year? Remember when you wanted your birthday to roll around? When you wished years away as you ached to be old enough to drive, to vote, to drink, to move out? And then, all of a sudden, without any warning at all, you can't put on the brakes hard enough to stop the year from passing. I mean, it's already September 14th. Another minute and a half, and October will be here.

And speaking of time . . . it's already 10:30 and I haven't written a word so far this morning. Since I told my editor I'd try very hard to get PEPPERMINT TWISTED to her by October 15th, I'd better stop blogging and get to work. I've only got about 5 minutes before my deadline.