Year: 2013

Good morning, you lovely people. I hope you’re all having a wonderful Tuesday and are well supplied with tea and chocolate. Last month I talked about Whodunnit, a murder mystery reality TV show. (I’m still watching. We’re down to the last four people, and it’s totally the four I picked out as potential murderer candidates. Go me!) Anyway, I was on the internet somewhere and someone mentioned that they’d put out a companion mystery novel in ebook form. I figured I’d give it a shot.

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This month we’re thrilled to be celebrating the third anniversary of Turtleduck Press. Three years ago, several writers came together and decided to create a publishing house of our own, aiming to combine the quality control of traditional publishing with the flexibility and autonomy of self-publishing. We chose a name and a mandate, and got to work.

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It’s almost August, and that means we’re busy putting the finishing touches on a new Turtleduck Press book. This summer’s release marks a special occasion. To celebrate our first three years as an indie co-op publisher, we’re releasing The Best of Turtleduck Press, Volume 1. Stay tuned for a cover reveal, more details, and a BUY link, all coming on August 1!  

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Have you checked out our submissions guidelines? Spread the word! Now on to the blog. I’ve been taking a break from the writing lately. I’ve just changed jobs after ten years as a middle school registrar (now I’m the office manager!) and I have a lot to learn. And I need to learn it quickly, because we’re gearing up for another school year. So when I finally set aside the manuals and the cash handling procedures and the notes and files of my predecessors, the last thing I want to do is take up some other form of work. So I’m reading books and watching movies and generally lazing about. It’s very odd for me, but I’m enjoying it.

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I gotta tell you, I love mysteries. I especially love a subgenre known as cozy mysteries, which is where your protagonist (i.e. mystery solver) is not in a line of work that typically solves mysteries (such as a cop or a detective). They can be little old women, journalists, bakers, writers, cat sitters, teenaged girls… Anyway. I love the subgenre a lot, and am always willing to give a potentially interesting series a chance. So when I heard about Whodunnit, a murder mystery reality television series, I thought, “This sounds like something I’d like.”

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Just a friendly reminder: we are looking for new members!  If you have a polished manuscript of speculative fiction, we want to see it!  We’re fun, we’re cool, we’re unique! So, camping.  Some of my most precious memories of my family are of our camping trips.  We did a lot of camping in the old days.  My parents had a small trailer so we never tented it.  And we’d go all over, most of the time with family, friends, or church members.  While I was just wee thing back then, I still remember enough that the smell of campfire always brings me back.  Always.  It is said that scent is one of the strongest triggers of memory (this has been your useless factoid of the day.  You’re welcome). 

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Two months ago, I told you about my latest “ooh, shiny!” obsession — vegetable gardening. So…is it still shiny, or have I moved on to something else? (Besides the rocks and gems store. That was only a vacation fling. We live too far apart to make it work.) Once the initial infatuation with my garden wore off, I realized how much work it was. The weeds came back! (Who knew?) The plants needed watering when it didn’t rain…and we haven’t even hit the hottest part of the year yet! Even my front hedge has weeds in it! I bought more tools to fight the weeds. More “new and shiny” plants to make myself feel better. Some of the seeds (spring onions!) never came up. Some of the plants (zucchini!) died, while others (hot peppers!) are on death watch. Still others are getting nibbled on…and not by us. Our spinach was a total failure. Out of ten feet (rows) of seeds, we got two plants. One didn’t look healthy, so we chucked it. The other got picked at the last minute before it got too old too eat…then languished in our fridge while we forgot to eat it until too late. Oooops. But…

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  First, let me mention again our Call for Submissions. We’re looking for new friends! Now to the blog post–over on her own blog, Siri’s been talking about favorite places, both real and fictional. I thought I might too, but then I noticed her favorite fictional places and mine overlap a bit. (Pern? Hogwarts, forsooth!) So I thought I’d talk about my favorite fictional characters instead. But not just my favorites—the ones I’d like to hang out with. As much as I love, say, my Marine character Eve Marcori, I don’t think I’d enjoy spending a lot of time with her. There’s just too much violence and noise wherever she is, you know?

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Yeah.  So I’m on some pretty heavy meds for my eye, and I tend to get dizzy and loopy, so this should be interesting.  I’m at a loss for anything to say about it, except I’ve got more tests coming up and a super dose of IV steroids next week. (Hey, I get three days off work.  Gotta look at the positive).

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