What do you do when you realize your creative energy is fizzling, not sizzling? Road Trip!

This was exactly not the time I wanted to be pulled away from work. When you're self-employed, you have the worst boss possible: yourself. But it turned out to be the perfect time to take a break. 

My husband snagged tickets to the Antiques Roadshow. We watch the show regularly. We missed out on the one filmed closer to home. The only solution was to take a road trip to Salt Lake City.

It turned into a whirlwind trip, with the addition of a visit to Arches National Park. The whole trip snuck up on us, as if we didn't have multiple calendars and reminders. Boom! Suddenly we were throwing clothes in suitcases and leaving town.

Before heading out, I was struggling with the start of a case of burnout. Seeing new scenery, meeting interesting people, getting into the great outdoors, and breaking routine all conspired to hit my reset button. The wiring in your brain seems to need a hard shutdown on occasion. Flip off the switches, wait a few beats, then turn on the juice again.

During the trip, a novel, or possibly series, idea that has been nagging at me for a while finally solidified. I also hit upon a short story idea. Both are in the beginning development phases.

Upon our return to town, I felt more clear about the projects that need immediate attention. 

The photo is of me and my husband, after not getting selected to appear on camera with our wonderful deer picture. We had a blast seeing behind the scenes. 

Last weekend, I participated in the Mountain of Authors event at the Pikes Peak Library's 21c location. Fans of literature of all genres and age ranges wandered through to meet local authors. 

I enjoyed chatting with writer friends and meeting readers. I'm not comfortable with the marketing side of being an author. Being able to tell people they could check out my books from the library relieved some of the "look at my book" pressure.

I know, I should hustle. Sell my books. I'm trying to be better. Especially because I'm testing the waters of Indy self-publishing. The last half of 2025, and next year, I promise to stretch my limits. 

Mountain of Authors was a friendly event. I felt like I was in my safe place: the library. I learned so much from conversations with other authors. Really, this networking thing isn't that bad.

Publishing is an interesting business. You never know what twists and turns your path as an author is going to take. When I learned that Book One in my Rose Creek Mystery series has been selected as a Harlequin Mystery WWL, I didn't know what to think.

Translated, that's a Worldwide Mystery that is sent to thousands of subscribers to their monthly book club. Plus, my novel will be available for order in mass market paperback format from Harlequin in late August.

Another translation. The various formats of print books are: 
Trade Paperback - approximately 5" x 8" (This is the format printed by Encircle Publications)
Mass Market Paperback - approximately 4" x 7" (Harlequin will print my novel in this format)
New on the market is the "mass max" paperback, measuring 4.75" x 7"

I am excited that my novel will be available to lots more readers, whatever the format!

Here are the ordering details, for when The Body in the Cattails becomes available - 
Harlequin.com
On Sale: Aug 26, 2025 - Release Month: Sep 2025

​Free!
Meet local authors at the 21c Library in Colorado Springs. I'll be there with my Rose Creek books, and Pikes Peak Writers will have all four of their anthologies.
Saturday, May 17 from noon to 4:30
1175 Chapel Hills Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

I started seeds back in March. I am behind on sharing my 2025 gardening adventures. This is my first gardening post of the 2025 season.

I no longer use the small pots for starting seeds. The plants seem too prone to going leggy or getting root rot. I use larger 4 inch starter pots, and then transplant when they've outgrown those.

A nice, thick, ball of roots is what I'm hoping develops. This tomato held the dirt together when I removed it from the original pot.

​Another change I'm experimenting with this year is leaving the grow lights on 24 hours a day.

I am not rushing to put delicate plants outside. As you can see in the photo below, we're still getting snow. Sure, gardeners can push the season back by covering plants with all sorts of clever tents and tubes of water, but I've got too many writing projects going to expend that much energy on the garden.

The project my daughter and I have been working on for a long time is finally coming to fruition! We hope to announce the release date soon. I've been talking about this YA novel for a while, under a different title.

Name changes: First, my high school student  granddaughter decided we needed to call the series The Tapestry Tales. Then the college student granddaughter told us our original title, Five Palms, was lame. And we always pay attention to the opinions of these two young women. They are nearly always right! We now have themed titles for the series and the individual books.

Cover changes: Merida Bass, co-author and artist, has created several iterations of the cover. For a series, the font, art design, and color schemes need to have uniformity. This cover will have meaning for readers, once they dive into the story. And do you notice the TFE badge in the lower right corner?

Book One - Frayed Dreams: Jagrav Mahajan needs his mother’s approval for a cybernetic leg replacement, but she vanished with her Pythagorean cult of mathematical naturalists. Inspired by eco-superhero Breaker, African American high school student Nia Beckett is determined to save the last wild jungle from development. When the teens meet at the crumbling Five Palms Resort, they suspect Breaker is there on a mission of her own. What none of them realize is that Ando the squirrel monkey's powerful Talent is growing with every passing moment.

After doing research, we realized most YAs seem to be heavy on dystopia, angst, and romance. Our story fits the lighter tone of Ready Player One, which is definitely a dystopian world, but has welcome helpings of humor. Our teens are disconnected from the Tapestry, and exposed to the natural world with no buffer of mind-filling entertainment - or control.

This is our experiment in Indy publishing. I have dozens of reasons for going this route with this project. Merida is determined we should do as much of the work ourselves as possible. She has taken on the lion's share of the publishing research, and is doing all the artwork and graphic art.

I'll announce the release date soon. We intend to follow-up swiftly with book two in the Tapestry Tales series, Broken Threads.​

Day 3 of Left Coast Crime 2025, I was still high energy. 

After the breakfast buffet, I attended the Reader's Panel. It's always a good idea for writers to hear from readers. The panel discussed what appeals to them, and how they discover their next favorite reads.

After that I listened to the Senior Sleuths panel. A common theme was that the senior characters are often underestimated by other characters. Another thread was that as the population ages, there will be more senior sleuths included in mysteries.

The third slot of the day, I was on the Mysteries with Animals panel. We had a lively discussion of the whys and hows of including animals in our stories. I mentioned a series by author Shirley Rousseau Murphy with a point of view character that is a talking cat: Joe Gray. One audience member responded enthusiastically. Another Joe Gray fan - yay! The controversial question of cats versus dogs came up. I jumped right into that one! I'm definitely a cat person, although I don't currently have a kitty in my life.

After lunch, I attended the Changing World of Cozies. The authors all agreed that covers mean a lot. The traditionally published have little to no influence over their book covers. Both Trad and Indy authors emphasized the importance of key words and description to enable readers to find their novels.

During the conference, I had pushed myself to have hallway conversations, and to actually speak to people at breakfast and on breaks in the hospitality room. My Turtle Power was waning. I was ready to withdraw into my shell. Three days of crowds, noise, and socializing had taken a toll on my introverted nature.

By the time we headed to the Saturday evening banquet, I was pretty thoroughly exhausted and peopled out. Then I saw fellow Type M for Murder blogger, author Charlotte Hinger. She had just learned she was up for a Spur Award from Western Writers of America! Charlotte is a finalist in the Best Western Contemporary Novel category for her book, Mary’s Place, published by Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press. Excitement over her achievement buoyed me up for a bit, but I had to leave the banquet early. Turtle Power was fully depleted.

Home again, we had two big social events in close succession. Argh. Good times, but poorly spaced. Now I am entering full turtle recharge mode. It's time to withdraw fully into my shell and work on my fiction projects!

My novel The Body in the Cattails was inspired by a "what if" moment. The thick tangle of riparian growth seemed the ideal place for a body to escape notice. Until a clever cat makes a horrifying discovery. 

Cattails grow along creeks flowing through the greenways in town. For the past couple years, I've been paying close attention to their lifecycle.

Cattails, of the genus Typha, are a tall plant that grows in marshy areas. Their most noticeable characteristic is the  brown fuzzy "tail" that forms on a spike.

In spring, green, grassy-looking growth pushes up from the creek banks. Later, the "tails" form. By fall, the tails go to seed, looking like a startled cat's tail puffing. The fluff is distributed by the wind, creating new growth.

In the winter, cattails aren't too impressive. Like most everything else, they're brown and dried up. It's just part of the lifecycle. I'm anxiously waiting for the first green blades to push up out of the old cattails.
​
 In the meantime, here are some photos of cattails in their various stages.

A large part of what made the conference a valuable experience was the opportunity to catch up with other authors, and to meet readers and librarians. The second day of Left Coast Crime 2025 began with a nice breakfast buffet, and more panels. 
​
At dinner Friday, I was delighted to meet up with fellow Encircle Publications authors. We talked business and future projects. Each is a multi-published and accomplished writer. Mike Befeler has written twenty-five novels, beginning with his Paul Jacobson geezer lit series. BJ Magnani is the author of a four book Dr. Lily Robinson series, Drawing on her expertise as a toxicologist and pathologist. CM Wendelboe is a retired deputy and Marine, and the author of over twenty books, including several Western series.

The Sisters in Crime carnival Friday night was a blast! My co-author daughter and I told our husbands we got arrested in Denver, then received prison tattoos. The photographic evidence is in the gallery below. Plus pics of the five panels I attended Friday.

I was fully out of my shell, and behaving very un-turtle like. Having a room at the conference in which to retreat was essential.