A warm welcome to Clea Simon who is filling in for us today. Clea Simon is the author of three nonfiction books, Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings (Penguin), Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads (Wiley), The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats (St. Martin’s), and the Theda Krakow mysteries, Mew is for Murder, Cattery Row, Cries and Whiskers, and the upcoming Probable Claws (all Poisoned Pen Press). She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband Jon Garelick (who is also a writer) and their cat, Musetta.

Are two heads better than one? Some days, I think I’m finding out. After all, at least until my agent catches me or reality smacks me upside the head, I seem to be writing two books at once.

Well, no, not simultaneously. But just yesterday I revisited a novel I’d started and been head over heels in love with about six months ago. It was dark, it was serious. It jumped back and forth over 20 years in the gritty rock club scene of my current hometown of Boston. And I was a good 100 pages in when my publisher contacted me asking for revisions on my theoretically already-finished series mystery. So, yes, you guessed it. I put down Project A (for “atmospheric”?) and returned to the series mystery, the fourth in this run. It not only needed serious work, but it was already contracted, so it took priority. I’d thought I needed a break from those characters, but going back into it was a lot of fun and, I think, useful (“Probable Claws” now pubs. in April). But because you can’t just work work work on one project, somewhere in there, I also wrote a short story on a very different theme. Maybe it was because I’d been reading a lot of the new women noir writers (Megan Abbott, Linda L. Richards, etc.). Maybe it was because so many people ask me why the cats in my series mystery don’t talk, but I’d had the thought: What if I had a grumpy pet psychic? A kind of hardboiled pet detective? Project B (for “batty”?) was born.

Which has brought me to my current dilemma. Which project to work on? On one hand, my books have always been light. Traditional, rather than overly cozy, but still - the blood is dry before it hits the page. So Project B, for all its attitude, has been a lot easier to get into. But after seven books, I also want to invest in my long-term career. These days, darker sells better. And simply in terms of my writing chops, shouldn’t I be tackling the more difficult challenge first?

Yeah, you guessed it. Some days, I crank away at the heavier Project A and think I’m in love. I’ll pause for breath when I have a complete draft. Maybe go back to the other book while I’m waiting to revise. On other days, the fun and sparkle of Project B seduces me, and I think, “if it feels this good, it must be right.”

For the record, in my private life I am – and have pretty much always been – serial monogamous. One man, one cat. One book project at a time. This is all new for me. Is this my midlife crisis? Will either of these books get finished? Or will a third idea come along and sweep me off my feet, before either even gets to my agent’s desk?

It’s a complicated approach and I keep waiting for some subconscious editor to weigh in – and rule one project out. Until then, I’m working on both book projects and trying to give them both the attention and care they deserve.

Which is why, when Jeff put out a call for guest bloggers, I emailed that I’d love to chime in. What else do I have going on?