Publishers Weekly reviewed The Sum of Us! They didn’t love every story (but why they picked out Bottleneck to dislike is beyond me–that is one of my favorite stories), but picked out four for special praise: “The Dunschemin Retirement Home for Repentant Supervillains,” “The Healer’s Touch,” “Blinders,” and “The Oracle and the Warlord.” All of these deserve the praise they got–but yeah, so does every other story in this collection.
When Words Collide upcoming!
I was away for a bit on the motorcycle, but got home and caught up on the last zillion tiny details for When Words Collide. I invited a bunch of panelists to moderate their panels, signed up for my pre-festival workshop choices, organized a list of all my duties for the festival weekend, and took notes on the panels I am going to be on–I always like to have a few ideas of things I’d like to mention, going into a panel. There! Ready!
Dictating on the Motorcycle
Back to dictating on the motorcycle as we ride through western Canada and the US. Stunning scenery. However, I think I have solved all the plot problems for my next novel, and just need to get home and write it all down. Love my voice recorder!
Mystery analysis
A couple of writerly friends and I are getting together to study the mystery form. One of them has a friend who teaches a course in mystery writing, who gave us some materials to read. Then we are going to all read the same mystery and get together next week to discuss. Sounds like fun, as well as educational!
Plotting book 2
So book 1 is off to the publisher and book 2 is due in a year. I have it basically plotted, but want to do more detailed plotting now, so I reviewed the material I have in preparation for nailing it down. I hope to have enough done so I can dictate scenes while I go on a 10-day motorcycle trip in July.