Coffee & Chat

Saturday coffee & chat

Happy Saturday!

Another week behind us and we’re into a new month and we celebrated a national holiday! Wow! I also finished the 4th draft of Food Blogger #4. Many chapters are still with my critique partner and then the beast is headed to a freelance editor for an edit. I’ll be dealing with that later so I’m focusing on finishing draft 4. I do have the beast printed out and I’m going to read through it. I think a few of my chapters are way too long, so some reorganization needs to happen this coming week. Let’s see if I can keep the red pen away from those pages. LOL.

This week I mailed out the Advance Reader Copies for THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE (available for preorder now). I was blown away by the requests I received for ARCs when I shared on social media I had the books. If you’re a reviewer and didn’t get a print copy, digital ARCs will be available on NetGalley in late August/early September. I have to admit, I’m a little nervous in sending these babies out into the world. I felt the same way with my other books so I guess that feeling never goes away.

Three Widows and A Corpse book one in the Food Blogger Mystery Series

This week we started a new month and I have goals for July. But first, let’s take a moment and let the quote for this month sink in – nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.

Never truer words ever spoken.

Everything I’ve achieved to date with my writing has been because of hard work, effort and commitment. Showing up everyday isn’t easy but if you have a dream you need to commit to it, work at it and celebrate it when you’ve achieved it. Then going forward you’ll practice – Rinse. Repeat. Because you can’t rely on your laurels.

So what are goals for the July? I’m so glad you asked. 🙂

First let me say, I’ve been looking forward to July for the past few weeks because I’ll be diving into my secret project (soon to be announced as the contract has just been received) and I’ll be starting Resale Boutique Mystery #3! The outline for the book was accepted by my editor. In book 3 we find Kelly’s former boss, the dragonista of Seventh Avenue, standing over the dead body of her ex-Husband’s new wife (wearing a fabulous faux leopard fur coat of course). There are so many things about this story I love and I can’t wait to start writing the manuscript. Darn secret project. Just kidding. I love my secret project. There you have pretty much what I have planned for the month – a lot of writing. So I’ll be cocooned in my air condition office with Billy until further notice.

There are times when a gal needs a chocolate cupcake. I needed one Tuesday. Just so you know, not everyday is perfect here in Deb’s writing world all the time. There are sucky days and luckily when I had one this week I also had a fresh batch of chocolate cupcakes to help ease the pain. 🙂 And also luckily for me, I didn’t go into a cupcake coma, I managed to stop myself from eating every single cupcake.

For the rest of the week, I stepped away from social media and I am taking long weekend off from writing. It was a quiet, long-stretch of time that was needed. I worked outside a bit, ate a really good burger and took numerous walks with Billy, well he actually was in the stroller for most of the time outside.

I’d love to hear what your highlight of the week was or what you have planned for this weekend? Did you watch any fireworks?

 

Newsletter Signup!

Sign up today to receive regular updates from Debra about her Food Blogger mystery series and Resale Boutique mystery series, exclusive content and the recipe for her Divine Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!

Friday Faves

Friday Faves

Happy Friday!

We made it to the end of the week and here in the states, we’re into day 2 of a 4 day weekend! How are you doing so far? This week has been busy with finishing up draft 4 of my current Food Blogger mystery work-in-progress. My goal was to have it done by July 4th  and I met the goal on July 2nd. Not too shabby. But I did find some fun things I loved this week and my faves include a new cozy, adorable cookies and a podcast interview!

woman on cell phone

It’s day two of a four day weekend which means more reading time! Can I get a Amen? My new read is Manor of Dying (book 4 in the Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery series) by Kathleen Bridge. I’m in chapter seven right now and it’s nice to be visiting with Meg Barrett and the rest of the characters from the charming series set out on Montauk, Long Island.

ManorOfDying cozy mystery

This week I found the cutest cookies EVAH! These adorable chocolate stack cookies would be the perfect centerpiece at any party – birthday, showers, holiday. I’m absolutely in love with the pink bows topping the cookies. Hope Early would love these cookies, too. Check out the recipe for Chocolate Sandwich Cookie Stacks (yes, it’s a mouthful, a delicious looking moutful!) over at Cooking with Carlee.

This week one of my favorite podcasts I listened to was Author Stories with Hank Garner. The episode I listened to was an interview with Katherine Hall Page. It was a delight to listen to the interview. After all, she’s the author who got me interested in culinary cozy mysteries to begin with.

And I’ll end this post with a photo of my little dude, Billy (he’s always a fave of mine), snoozing in his stroller while we went out for a walk. Talk about living the life. Am I right?

Do you have a fave this week you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments section.

Writing, Writing Updates

One Step Closer to Publication

The page proofs of THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE have been returned to my production editor. This means the manuscript is one step closer to publication. In a few weeks I’ll receive the advance reader copies (ARCs) and I’m dying to see the idea I set out to write turned into a real-life book!

Proof pages. All 344 pages. All done!

 

While I dislike this part of the publishing process the most, I do have to admit I love seeing this page. All of my published books listed. 🙂

 

 

Coffee & Chat

May Coffee & Chat

Happy New Week!

I know, I’ve been MIA here for what seems like forever. Oh, what Drew would say, forEVAH, girl. But believe me when I tell you that not a day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought about writing an update here. Well, today I’m sitting down and actually doing it. What a concept, right?

Since it’s been awhile, I thought today I’d do a little catch-up on the past few weeks. Book signing, magazine ad, best-seller list, a couple of Shih-Tzus. Hmm…where to begin?

Let’s start with a book discussion and book signing. Not going to lie. I loved seeing my book in the shop’s window.

For the release of THE HIDDEN CORPSE, I had the opportunity to visit Byrd’s Books in Bethel, CT for a discussion and signing. It was the perfect night to talk murder! We had a thunderstorm complete with streaks of lightning. Talk about a perfect backdrop. It reminded me of a scene in a Murder, She Wrote episode where a visiting author to Cabot Cove was reading from her novel and it was stormy outside and someone burst into the room. Very dramatic! No one burst into the middle of my book discussion. Yeah, not so dramatic. 🙂

It was a lovely evening despite the bad weather. I love talking about Hope and her sleuthing adventures and I felt very honored to sign copies of my books for those who came out and also some stock copies for the bookstore. That was awesome. Byrd’s Books did a wonderful job in pulling the event together and I’m looking forward to doing some more work with them.

Next up is this gorgeous back cover ad my publisher did for their recently released cozies that featured recipes. THE HIDDEN CORPSE was included!

One recipe from each of the books was highlighted. For THE HIDDEN CORPSE Hope’s Cinnamon Apple Bread was selected. I love this recipe. There is nothing more heavenly than apple and cinnamon baking. The house smells so good. And I’m thrilled that fellow Cozy Mystery Crew authors Libby Klein and Tina Kashian were included in the ad. Go team CMC!

I’m so grateful my publisher included THE HIDDEN CORPSE in the ad because I think it had a lot to do with the book making the Barnes and Noble Mass Market Paperback Bestseller list for THREE weeks! WooHoo!!! I have to admit, I love being on a best seller list.

The magazine is still available and you should be able to find it at your local grocery store and if not click here and you’ll be directed to Amazon we can purchase a copy. There are a lot of great recipes in this book in this magazine I flagged a few that I’m looking forward to trying over the next couple months.

Last month I shared the cover of the next Food Blogger book, THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE.

I absolutely love the cover. I’m often asked if I have any input to the cover design and the answer is “yes”. I”m fortunate that my editor asks me for ideas and I provide him with a bunch of inspirational photos and a detailed summary of the crime scene. And then Kensington works its magic to create beautiful covers like the one above. Now I’m waiting to see the cover for SILENCED IN SEQUINS.

Since we’re on the topic of writing, I’m currently working on the second draft of Food Blogger book #4. It has a working title but I’m not sure it will carry over to publication. I’m also editing the outline for Resale Boutique book #3 to send to my editor in June. And even though there’s a lot going on, I have an idea for another book that won’t go away! We’ll see what happens with that project. You know what? We’ll see just how badly this idea wants to be turned into a book. How hard will it fight for some attention from me? I’ll keep you posted. 🙂

Billy has been keeping me busy. This is a quick picture I snapped while on a walk. I put him  in the stroller and Susie walks. Depending upon how sleepy he is he might be curled up in the stroller (like the photo above) and doesn’t have a clue that we’re outside in the fresh air or  he could be sitting up and and enjoying the ride. He’s recovering from an infection and has a follow-up appointment this week.

And here is the picture of the little diva. Or as I call her frequently lady of leisure. Actually I snapped this photo of her when I was on FaceTime with fellow cozy mystery author Jenny Kales. Susie had come out to spend part of chat with us and then she wandered away and took a nap. She’s doing well considering her diagnosis of kidney disease. Twice a week I administer subcutaneous fluids and they’ve definitely helped her with her problem so fingers crossed that it’ll keep working.

Well that’s all my updates for now. I hope you’ll say “hi” in the comments.  And if you haven’t, consider signing up for my monthly newsletter. The form is below.

Debra

Newsletter Signup!

Sign up today to receive regular updates from Debra about her Food Blogger mystery series and Resale Boutique mystery series, exclusive content and the recipe for her Divine Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!

Fit Writer, New Book Releases

Morning After Release Day

Tuesday was the big day. THE HIDDEN CORPSE was released and that meant I’d be busy, busy, busy. Busy checking on social media, busy finishing the outline for Resale Boutique Mystery #3, busy stressing out if readers will love Hope’s latest adventure, busy updating my resume because readers are going to hate Hope’s latest adventure and my publisher will have no choice but to cancel all future books.

See, I was busy.

To say that the thoughts in my head were racing a hundred miles an minute would be an understatement. It was like rapid fire. Who posted what? What did I have to share? How was my ranking? Why all of a sudden did my outline for the new book feel flat? What skills do I have to put on my resume? Did I give Billy all of his eye drops? What? A new idea? Geez. I don’t need new ideas because my writing career is over. Wait. What am I going to wear to my booksigning in two weeks? Booksigning as my career crumbles? Might as well go out with a flourish.

Busy, busy.

By the time I went to sleep my mind was exhausted. It had been on hyper-alert all day. I can’t even imagine if I was on Twitter. Facebook and Instagram was more than enough for me. On Wednesday morning I woke feeling somewhat refreshed from a good night’s sleep (total miracle because I have no idea how that happened). But when I woke my mind started reeling again with all the same thoughts from the day before. It was clear I needed something to quell all those racing thoughts or else I’m not sure how the day was going to go. I still needed to work on my outline.

I decided yoga is what I needed to do in order to reboot the start of my day. I found a morning yoga session on YouTube and for eleven minutes my mind was solely focused on the practice. Eleven minutes sounds like nothing. Blink and eleven minutes are gone but it was just the right amount to clear my head and guide me into a more peaceful mindset to face the day after release day. When I was finished with yoga, I treated myself to a cup of green tea and sipped leisurely as I reflected on all that I’m grateful for. I had a new book out (the reviews have been very good and it’s truly a relief), I was working on another, I have a wonderful, loving family and amazing friends and two of the sweetest little dogs who were gently snoring not too far from me.

There is so much abundance in my life to be thankful for and I’m especially appreciative of my readers. I heart you!

The day after release day was a calm day. Thank goodness! I settled down to work, managed my time online and made sure to get out at lunch time for a walk with the pups. All in all, a really good day. Heck, it’s been a fantastic week. A little crazy but that’s okay.

Hey, this wouldn’t be a writer’s life if there wasn’t a little craziness. 🙂

There are a few more days left on the blog tour the THE HIDDEN CORPSE and I’ll be sharing on social media. If you haven’t had the chance to get your copy of THE HIDDEN CORPSE click here for more information about the book and where you can get your copy.

Talk soon!