For its Getting 2 Know U feature, Book Club Buddy asked me 2 more questions. You can learn about my creative process and something that might surprise you about me by clicking here.
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Word on the Street
Tomorrow, Sunday Sept 25th, I’ll be reading from Deadly Fall at Lethbridge, Alberta’s, first The Word on the Street, where may I get to meet Clifford the Red Dog.
Alberta authors
Check out these books by Alberta authors displayed at recent Alberta library conferences by author impresario Susan Toy.http://islandeditions.wordpress.com/library-conferences/
Book Club Buddy interview
Book Club Buddy has posted an interterview I did with them last week. I found the questions interesting – and a challenge. To read the interview, click here.
Deadly Fall on Book Club Buddy
This week I signed up Deadly Fall for Book Club Buddy, a website where readers and authors connect. A photo of Deadlly Fall’scover now appears on the website’s home page. Click to get a description of the story that’s a little different from the one on my website and snippets of reviews and reader comments.
I subscribed to Book Club Buddy last year. Almost instantly, I won the weekly draw and received a book mailed by one of the site’s authors. I’ll be doing this soon with Deadly Fall. If you subscribe, you might win a copy of the my book or one that interests you offered another week. The site is free to join. www.bookclubbuddy.com
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One Quarter There
Writing a novel is a daunting task. It becomes more manageable for me if I break the novel into quarters, with each quarter ending at a turning point. I start out with a fuzzy idea of what the first turning point will involve, but know it will be about 80 pages in. Writing toward page 80 feels easier than following that first sentence with a full-blown 320 page plot.
In early August, I started the sequel to Deadly Fall. This wasn’t a totally new start. I had previously drafted the first half of “Summer,” but wanted to make changes that were significant enough to go back to the beginning rather than continue from where I’d left off. So, this first half feels more like a second draft, while what follows will be all new. I’m calling it Draft 1A.
To reach each turning point, I tend to set personal deadlines. The one quarter mark one for “Summer Draft 1A” was a brief trip to Banff at the end of August. I didn’t quite make the deadline. Calgary’s weather this August was too darn good and I wanted to be out there enjoying it. I tried a few tricks to do that while accomplishing my writing goal: getting up early to write and taking my laptop out to the patio. The first I only managed a couple of times; the latter worked okay, but was better one evening when there was no glare on the computer screen. I made it to the first few pages of my turning point chapter and had to finish it after the holiday, helped by Calgary’s dip into a few bad weather days.
Now, I’ve entered the second quarter of “Ten Days in Summer”, the working title for the sequel, and Calgary has entered another warm, sunny spell that’s forecast to last until the end of September. My next deadline is a trip to Toronto on Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoying this last burst of summer and meeting that deadline will be a challenge.
Mystery Fiction Night – Sept 30
On Friday, Sept 30, I’ll be participating in a Mystery Fiction Night with Dave Hugelschaffer and Gordon Cope. Here are the details.
MYSTERY FICTION NIGHT
Shelf Life Books
100, 1302-4th Street SW
Calgary, Alberta
www.shelflifebooks.ca
403 265 1033
Suspense! Readings! Crime! Wine! Murder!
Friday, Sept. 30th
7 – 9 PM
with local authors:
DAVE HUGELSCHAFFER (Day Into Night & Careless Moment)
GORDON COPE (Secret Combinations).
SUSAN CALDER (Deadly Fall)
Check out my other fall events on my updated Events page.
Deadly Fall at Fish Creek Library
Today, a friend was in Fish Creek Library and snapped a picture of Deadly Fall on the New & Notables shelf. This is my first view of Deadly Fall in its library jacket.
