Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash
This year has been filled with ups and downs (but aren't they all)?
Ups:
Ups:
- We got Mardi Gras Mysteries and Strangely Funny VIII to press, making several authors (and, I hope, readers) happy.
- Gwen and I attended the Cedar Key Seafood Festival and the Kentucky Book Festival, our first real outings since COVID struck. Both were successful events where we sold many books, followed by a bounce in online sales.
- We got more work done on Ybor City Blues, and I picked up my trunk novel for the first time in... oh... twenty years?
- Zoom meetings (a response to the lockdowns) allowed us to see programs from Sisters in Crime chapters across the country. The Sisters also hosted regular write-ins via Zoom during NaNoWriMo, and I produced my highest word count in years.
- My mother's health worsened and she had to be moved into memory care. Gwen and I are visiting her on a daily basis, which has cut into our writing, editing, and publishing time. Also, it has shortened my vitally important streaming time (a lesser tragedy by some standards).
What's Next?
The year is going to start with a bang, and will keep moving.
- We'll be participating in a Tropical Cozy Mystery Panel on January 29th with our local Sisters in Crime chapter at the Barbara S. Ponce Library in Pinellas Park.
- I'll be getting Strangely Funny IX together for print. Helping my mother with her transition has slowed my normal snail's pace to NYC George Washington Bridge proportions.
- We will continue work on Ybor City Blues, which has also experienced a slowdown in production.
- MAHLLC have one, possibly two novels coming out in 2022 by other authors. One of them is a frequent flyer with our press and a favorite with readers.