Well, I’m out of school for the summer. It happened late this year, due to all the wild circumstances of power outages and feet of snow. But I’m slowly getting used to not getting dressed at 6am and rushing out the door. It didn’t take much to get there! But that doesn’t mean I have slowed down any.

So far, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the yard. We’d like to sell next year, so we need to get that curb appeal as they say on HGTV. I’ll try to post photos of how things are going later in the week. We’ve got new bushes, new grass, and a new tree on the way. Phew. No wonder I’m sore this morning.

We’re getting new carpet put down at our place next week. Talk about a chore. Everything on the floor has to be moved, even inside the closets!! It will be a mess for a few days until we get everything back where it was. Because of the smells and chemicals in new carpet, we’ll actually spend large amounts of money to make the place look nice and then spend a couple of days in a hotel to not breathe all that.

I’ve been doing some promotions as well. I’ve been to Columbus for a book fair and I was in Louisville last weekend for a signing with my friends at the Sisters in Crime ORV chapter. I had a great time down there. I love to talk about books and authors, so that’s always fun.

The new book is coming along well. I’ve got about 100 pages, and no end in sight at this point. Phew. Lots to still research, which likely means another trip to Austin next year, and Pulpfest in August. I recommend it for anyone who has never been. It’s a full weekend of pulp magazines and talk about what else? Mysteries.

I’m doing a talk on pitch letters at Antioch Writers Workshop next month, so I get to see all my friends there, especially Little Blog’s own Sharon Short.

That’s about all from here at the moment. I’ll have marketing tips on Wednesday and a 2nd blog on Friday to round out a busy week. Let me know your summer plans too.