Success!

Barbara Burgess’ and my third cozy, Best Left Buried, has a home! I am pleased and excited to announce that this third Darcy/Flora mystery has been picked up by Pen-L Publishing. Now, that’s enough to warm the cockles of any writer’s heart and turn a cloudy day (like this one) into one filled with sunshine! I’ll let you know the release date and where you can expect to find it. Duke and Kimberly Pennell are the creative people at the helm of this publishing company. You can find them on their website or Facebook.

Yesterday’s writers’ conference was all that it promised to be. Fun and informative, and completely worth the seven hours spent sitting down (with brief breaks and lunch). Jane, Helen, and I walked past sidewalks still covered with ice and snow to get inside the Ozarks Electric building. We stood in line to pay our $7 for lunch, and my friends found seats while my books and I found a table to set up.

One of the fun things about conferences is meeting old friends and making new ones. I was fortunate enough to be seated by Judy Nickles, author of the Penelope Pembroke cozy mystery series. Between everything else, she and I chatted. Then, of course, I met others I’ve known for several years and usually see only at writers’ conferences: Barbara Youree, Maeve Maddox, Marilyn Collins, Velda Brotherton, and Dusty Richards.

Some of the words of wisdom and nuggets of knowledge that I picked up: always end a chapter with a reason for the reader to continue into the next chapter, stay with one viewpoint character instead of skipping from the mind of one character into the mind of another (this can be utterly confusing) forget about adverbs, use colorful and descriptive verbs, there is not one right way to write (this reminds me of my “Critic on My Shoulder” blog) get rid of the words “was” and “is” whenever possible,  never give up, and write every day!

Although March is in one of her moods again, with skies that could go one way or the other, in my heart all is bright and sunny. Nothing gives a writer more pleasure than landing a home for her manuscript. Thank you, Duke and Kimberly!