My novella is available for purchase, only at Amazon (free download with Kindle Unlimited account). This story about amateur sleuth Magdalene Duchateau was nominated for various awards and it is a favorite of mine. I hope you read it and enjoy.

This is the sort of scene I plan to incorporate in future books or stories about Augusta Hawke - an annual holiday celebration to kick off the Christmas festivities. For crime writer Augusta, slowly emerging from widowhood, the celebrations hold the promise of a brighter future.

And may that hold true for all of you who see this post.

The first photo is of the Old Dominion Boat Club. Definitely the scene of a future (fictional) murder.

Every year in Old Town we have a parade of lights on the Potomac River, about a dozen boats dressed for the holidays. It really is a great tradition, along with water-skiing Santa, whom we must have missed this time. My city is great for putting people in the holiday mood. I'm sure my character Augusta Hawke will watch the parade in a future book. Probably someone will fall off one of the boats. Or will they be pushed? It's that kind of mystery series.

...where she goes to write, or sleuth, or talk over a current case. In book 2 of the series, suspicious about a sudden death that occurred at a party she'd recently attended, she meets DCI Narduzzi for an informal chat in an upstairs room of this shop.

In my neighborhood is this venerable old church - the graveyard contains the tomb of a Revolutionary War soldier, unknown. This Old Presbyterian Meeting House will likely have a place in my next novel, maybe just a mention, but it is in the neighborhood where my sleuth, Augusta Hawke, lives. To the right is St. Mary's Basilica. Augusta can hear its bell tolling the faithful to service.

This is a topic many writers don't understand. In an ideal world, the cover you see on any book is the result of a collaboration between the author and the publisher. Most contracts have language suggesting that the author has input into the final design but that language is generally vague. As with every contract, good will and a spirit of cooperation are what drive the discussions over color and design and typeface, recognizing that the jacket artist is skilled and his/her/their vision for the book may differ dramatically from the author's or the editor's vision.

The cover is so very important, as well as the title, and most people at this stage of a book's publication want a say in it. I'm looking very much forward to seeing what the final cover will look like for Augusta Hawke. Again, it will be revealed in my Winter Solstice newsletter so please sign up for it today using the form at the bottom of each page of this website.

Don't see the form? You can also sign up here.

Not quite. I received comments and suggestions back from my editor, and when I've gone through every page (taken me 8 days so far) I'll send it back to him. From there, it goes to the copy editor for a week? Two weeks? This is the stage where I'm never sure.

But after having seen her comments I'll get to read the whole thing again, which at this point already is not a thrilling prospect. I want to be on to the next book in the series, anxious to get to it. I never reread my books, ever, and this is why. At some point, they have been so thoroughly read by me, I want something new.

But wait, there's more! Once the copyeditor and I are through it goes to be typeset and I will be sent the proof pages. This takes not long, maybe a week. I don't know why I can't remember the process better after all these years, but it's always slightly different. And with each book publisher (I've had three, like Goldilocks) it's been a slightly different process.

Still, I'm seeing the end in sight, which is wonderful, and today I think I'll treat myself to a pastry and coffee while my husband is out at a meeting. It's too soon for a full celebration but an apple fritter will do nicely. ;-)