06 Sep September Return
Welcome back, everyone! The summer sped past like a drunken night in the Byward Market. So much has happened since I last blogged!
To begin, I will be in Brockville at the inaugural St.Lawrence Writers’ Festival tomorrow (Sunday) at one o’clock at the Arts Hub alongside fellow Ottawa crime fiction authors Katie Tallo and John Delacourt with Don Butler moderating the panel, which takes place from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. with books for sale afterwards. The festival begins Friday evening and continues throughout the weekend. You can buy a weekend pass or pay for individual events. A great day trip to wrap up the summer!
I decided after penning two books back to back to take this summer off from writing. Sure, I wrote two short stories for anthologies, but this wasn’t the same as a book-length manuscript. And it didn’t hurt to start a new book … write the first chapter, and then take the break. Best laid plans. I’m currently heading up to 15,000 words as I officially ‘start’ writing again. Still, I feel relaxed and ready to become more dedicated to the fifth Hunter and Tate project.
The first anthology called A Capital Mystery will be available in October with the cover reveal this upcoming week. It has twenty some stories set in Ottawa written by local authors. There will be a launch as well next month, and I’ll share the details soon. Stay tuned! Dundurn and I will also begin editing the eighth Stonechild manuscript, now titled Nobody Tell. This one is due for release in January 2027 – no cover reveal yet.
I was lucky enough to be asked to sign books in some local Indigo and Coles stores this summer – Gloucester, Carlingwood, and Pinecrest. Katie Tallo also set up a fun author evening at Indigo South Keys, including me, John Delacourt, Lis Angus, and Randall Denley. This really is a terrific author community.
I’ll be taking part in a couple of author events this autumn and will be updating the public appearances on my website soon. In a few weeks, I’ll be heading to Toronto to visit a book club that donated money to charity for me to attend. I’ll also be meeting up with the Dundurn publisher and will stay with a friend of mine whom I met in university residence when I was eighteen. I haven’t been to Toronto in a few years so this trip is past due.
Many of you have been asking me about the status of the Cold Mourning television book deal. I can confirm that the book was optioned this year, and things appear to be moving along. I’ve learned, however, that these projects take a lot of time and many factors can derail the process. I’m sticking with cautious optimism 🙂
And this ends my first post back after a wonderful summer, which included the marriage of our younger daughter Julia in August. We’re also awaiting the birth of our first grandchild in early December as Lisa and Robin announced in the summer that they were going to be parents. This has been a very happy time for our family 🙂
Have a great week and I hope to see you in Brockville this weekend!