It’s only slightly cooler at night!

Can it get any hotter? It can, and it will here in Central Jersey. The best thing I can do to beat the heat is to go back and revisit a snowstorm scene in Tranquil Harbor – which I am presently doing. Somehow the idea of cars fishtailing making right hand turns, having suede boots ruined trudging through snowbanks, and experiencing the icy-cold, damp sand traveling up your spine as you sit on the deserted beach in January and contemplate life, sounds pretty good in July.

Spending days doing revisions isn’t the worst thing a woman can do on a sweltering day. It beats washing my car, or taking a very early morning walk around the neighborhood – which is already sizzling at 6:30 a.m. Thank God for treadmills! But revisions take time, especially when dealing with a complex crime. I’ve given myself a self-imposed deadline of August 1^st – the target date for Another Man’s Poison‘s submission to the publisher. Yeah, this book took much longer than the others to write. Perhaps writing two books simultaneously wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had. Actually, it was pretty stupid! It’s hard to concentrate when another storyline is constantly lingering inside your head, waiting to be told. My new motto — do only one until done!

So that’s what I’m up to – an August 1^st deadline. If I post it, it’s binding. It’s there for all to see. It has to get done. I have to do it!

Other writing and reading news:

The first weekend in August is the annual Deadly Ink Conference in New Brunswick, N.J. It’s always a fun conference packed with mystery lovers and mystery/crime writers. Click here http://www.deadlyink2016.org/ for more information.

There’s a Sisters in Crime Central Jersey symposium, The ABCs of (Writing) Murder on September 24, held in honor of Agatha Christie. If anyone needs information on registration, just comment below or send me an email. I’ll be glad to forward the info and registration form to you.

Mystery lovers should also check out Merry’s Amazon Reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2TDTVMPLU6Z1K/ref=cr_cm_rdp_pdp

A former Jersey Girl (though once a Jersey Girl, always a Jersey Girl), Merry has been busy down in Florida, reading avidly (in all that heat and humidity, reading is the coolest activity a gal can do!) and posting insightful reviews of cozies and mysteries. There must be over a hundred titles listed (I didn’t count them all). It’s obvious she’s a huge mystery fan.

Until next time (and hopefully much sooner than the two month stretch I have gone without a post), stay cool and avoid exertion.

Relax. Sip on a gin and tonic like Colleen Caruso. And read!!!