Gwen Mayo and I have both contracted COVID. We are already vaccinated and on the mend, but will be following the library's guidelines (and, I hope, negative COVID tests) to protect the safety of our readers. 

This year has been filled with ups and downs (but aren't they all)?
Ups:

• We got Mardi Gras Mysteries and Strangely Funny VIII to press, making several authors (and, I hope, readers) happy.
• Gwen and I attended the Cedar Key Seafood Festival and the Kentucky Book Festival, our first real outings since COVID struck. Both were successful events where we sold many books, followed by a bounce in online sales.
• We got more work done on Ybor City Blues, and I picked up my trunk novel for the first time in... oh... twenty years?
• Zoom meetings (a response to the lockdowns) allowed us to see programs from Sisters in Crime chapters across the country. The Sisters also hosted regular write-ins via Zoom during NaNoWriMo, and I produced my highest word count in years.

Downs (okay, one big down):

• My mother's health worsened and she had to be moved into memory care. Gwen and I are visiting her on a daily basis, which has cut into our writing, editing, and publishing time. Also, it has shortened my vitally important streaming time (a lesser tragedy by some standards).

The year is going to start with a bang, and will keep moving.

• We'll be participating in a Tropical Cozy Mystery Panel on January 29th with our local Sisters in Crime chapter at the Barbara S. Ponce Library in Pinellas Park.
• I'll be getting Strangely Funny IX together for print. Helping my mother with her transition has slowed my normal snail's pace to NYC George Washington Bridge proportions.
• We will continue work on Ybor City Blues, which has also experienced a slowdown in production.
• MAHLLC have one, possibly two novels coming out in 2022 by other authors. One of them is a frequent flyer with our press and a favorite with readers.

Blessings to all, and may you have a great New Year!

WHAT:
51st Annual Cedar Key Seafood Festival

WHEN:
October 16, 2021 @ 10:00 am – October 17, 2021 @ 5:00 pm

WHERE:
Cedar Key City Park
188 2nd St
Cedar Key, FL 32625

​Gwen Mayo and I will be at the Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime booth, at the corner of 2nd and C Street, during this event. Drop by and say hello!

Murder by the Book, A Mystery on the Menu Interactive Play, will premiere virtually on Friday, March 12, 2021 on the Main Stage of the Southwest Florida Reading Festival. The program is presented by Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime.
I play Claudia, a bookstore owner and publisher. Am I the killer? Tune in and find out.

I haven't posted here in quite a while. It's not that I haven't been busy, even though there's been a pandemic. I've been working from home on the Day Job, and I've begun serious writing on Ybor City Blues, which will be the third Snowbirds book. Gwen has been busy with Mustering Out, which will be the fourth book.
In editing news: we recently released a Mardi Gras anthology, our second. I'm afraid we have no stories in this volume, but there are plenty of good tales.

Recently, Jools Aguemont hosted us on her new podcast, Introducing Indie Authors. Gwen Mayo and I had a great time talking about things like: how we each got into writing, how we research our stories, and how we're able to write the Three Snowbirds series, even though our approach to writing is very different. 

Visit our promo page at Escapes with Dollycas from today through February 18th for articles, reviews, and ways to enter the giveaway for free copies of Murder at the Million Dollar Pier!

The Florida Gulf Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime honored Agatha Christie in the September meeting. We had cake, candy, a trivia contest, and a door prize.

Me and my co-author/Agatha Christie trivia maven. We love dress-up!

​The door prize, which includes our first novel and an ARC of the sequel!

Me trying to channel my best Teddy Lawless. She would have been too vain to wear her spectacles, but I would trip over furniture without them.

Gwen and I have been making progress on the sequel to Murder on the Mullet Express. Below are some previews from the upcoming Three Snowbirds adventure. If you attended Bouchercon in 2018, the location should look rather familiar!