A photo from our visit to the Ponce Library yesterday. It was nice to see people again, even masked.

The virus passed, and Gwen Mayo and I have been without fevers for several days now. We will still be wearing masks per the CDC guidelines, which we were going to do anyway. 
The event location and time: the Barbara S. Ponce Pinellas Park Library, 7770 52nd St N, Pinellas Park, FL from 2-4 PM. Hope to see you there!

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've spent most of this year editing stories for Strangely Funny V and doing a little writing on the side. But, mostly, I've been attending to the details of my life and family. I will be doing a signing with the Gulf Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime this Saturday at Books at Park Place. I'd love to see you. Details at the link.

Gwen Mayo and I joined the other authors at the Florida Writers Association today for the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading. The event was popular and well organized. There were volunteers everywhere to help us as needed, and the canopy covers over the booths were welcome when the afternoon heat struck. We appreciated the opportunity to introduce our novels to a new audience.

​Preview of our schedule next year below: Bouchercon 2018, which will be held in St. Petersburg!

The writers all belong to the Gulf Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime, including me.

• Cheryl Hollon, author of Webb’s Glass Shop Mystery Series: Pane and Suffering, Shards of Murder and Cracked to Death. The stories revolve around the adventures of the new proprietor of a St. Petersburg craft-glass shop.
• Gwen Mayo and Sarah Glenn, authors of the Florida historical mystery, Murder on the Mullet Express.
• Wendy Dingwall, author of the Florida-based Yvonne Suarez Travel Mysteries including Hera’s Revenge, Celtic Curse and The Toxic Cruise
• Shannon O. Esposito, author of the St. Petersburg Pet Psychic Series. Titles are: Karma’s a Bitch, Lady Luck Runs Out, and Silence is Golden

This is a great opportunity to partake of some homicidal Florida fun!

We attended the Southwest Florida Reading Festival this past weekend, located in Ft. Myers. It was our first time at this fair, so I’m glad we had plenty of company in the Sisters in Crime booth.

Wendy Dingwall, our chapter president, gave us plenty of useful advice we’ll use in future books fairs. We met both readers and writers, and I hope we made some new friends, too.

Next week: the Venice Book Fair.