I always find it hard to return to writing after a break.  This current break has been one of my longest. It began before Christmas and continued through the holidays, a one-month winter vacation, the release of Deadly Fall, my book promotion blitz, two shorter spring and summer trips and visits by relatives. During this time, all I’ve written are blog posts and a few novel chapters that didn’t work. Now it’s time to ease my way back into the saddle and write the sequel to Deadly Fall.  

I had thought the sequel was almost a  slam dunk. My publisher was interested in continuing the series.  Before Deadly Fall was accepted, I wrote a sequel Secret Spring, revised it and gave it to four friends who had read and enjoyed Deadly Fall. All of them thought Secret Spring was a better book. I polished up the manuscript and sent it to my publisher. To my surprise, she and and my editor had problems with it.   

Their arguments convinced me they might be right. I struggled to come up with solutions and took a stab at re-writing Secret Spring. At first, I liked what was happening with the story and especially enjoyed getting back into writing after the long gap. But in Chapter Four, I ran into plot glitches. The new Spring started to feel a bit flat. I had doubts that my changes would fully address my publisher’s and editor’s issues and worried they would reject the manuscript again,  after all that work, and I’d be even further behind.

I decided it was too soon to re-write Secret Spring, but with more brewing the story might work down the road. Meanwhile, my publisher had read my draft of the first half of a third series book and liked it. They suggested I write that story as book two.  When I return to writing in early August, this will be my writing project.  

The new book two – working title Ten Days in Summer – takes place during the Calgary Stampede. I’ll re-set it a year before the action in the original draft, so that it fits between Deadly Fall and Secret Spring.  My protagonist, Paula, will go through the developments in her personal life that happened off-stage between those two books. Among other things, she’s renovating and expanding her bungalow in Ramsay to make space for herself and a man.   

Other characters develop and enter the series. Paula’s mother visits from Montreal and faces decisions in her own life. Paula’s daughter considers changes to her love life and work. The suspects come onto the scene and stir up mischief. 

I hope, as August rolls around, I’ll get excited about this book and find myself so back into writing that I won’t want to leave it for the next break.

Thursday, June 16th, Will and I set out our mini-book tour of southern Alberta – four stops in twenty-four hours, organized and co-ordinated by my sister, Lynn, who lives in Beaver Mines and works in Calgary. 

First stop: Tumbleweed Coffee House in Nanton, a cafe that opened this March. Owner Leslie Elder invited me in for a signing between 3:00 and 5:00 PM. Before the event, I designed and printed 12 posters; Leslie displayed one by the cash at her store and distributed the rest throughout the town. 

Tumbleweed is a lovely spot, with an inviting atmosphere. There’s a couch in front of the fireplace, comfy chairs, barrel tables and regular ones. The patio in the back will be great when it stops raining. 

Our two hours was a steady stream of talking to customers, most of whom seemed relaxed and approachable. Two people, each with a friend, came specifically to meet me and buy Deadly Fall. I sat at the table and chatted with a pair about writing and their far-flung travels, leaving Will to tackle new arrivals. The take-out crowd tended to brush off his approach with, “I just came in for coffee.”   

A man en route to Fernie bought the book. Someone else picked up a copy for her sister and gave me her business card. She’s a sales consultant for a radio station in High River and Okotoks and invited me to contact her for an interview.  You bet.

We wrapped up the afternoon chatting with a couple of avid readers who are renovating their historic home. This coffee shop signing felt more engaging than ones I’d previously done at bookstores; there was time to talk longer. At the end, Leslie kept four books to sell on consignment in the store. After I got home, she e-mailed to say some people had expressed regrets over missing the session; a couple were sorry the books weren’t signed. Yesterday, when we happened to be in the area, we stopped by so I could sign the three remaining copies.    

We ordered soup and bagels with egg and cheese for dinner and headed down to Pincher Creek, where Lynn had arranged a video-conference at the Pincher Creek Library. Since no other libraries signed on, the conference didn’t materialize. Instead, I read and talked and answered questions by the Pincher residents who showed up – two of them. As we were preparing to leave, a cameraman from the Pincher Creek Echo newspaper arrived and took a picture of me with the attendees. It was to appear in the paper this week.

We spent the night at Lynn’s home in Beaver Mines, west of Pincher Creek. A former mining community, Beaver Mines village is now popular with urban ex-patriates and nature enthusiasts. Fifteen minutes down the road is Castle Mountain, a ski-hill, where Lynn’s husband spends his winter mornings.

Friday, 9:00 AM, we gathered in the Beaver Mines General Store, a very attractive premise. Attendance was similar to that of the previous night. Owner Rebecca Holand set out coffee and snacks for the pleasant hour of conversation and questions.   

Late morning we drove to the Crowsnest Pass, stopped at the art museum and left them a few books on consignment. I’ve started a new folder of consignment sheets for the Deadly Falls I’ve scattered over the southern province.  This event was a joint reading at Exhilarate!, an eclectic boutique in the former theatre in Bellevue, Crowsnest Pass. The promoter provided lunch for the gathering of about 15 people, many of them members of the local writing community. Two short story writers read, followed by another novelist and me. We ended with questions. A reporter from the Crowsnest newspaper took notes and photographs. I’ll be interested in reading her piece.

Tired and satisfied, we left for home, up highway 22. A detour for a latte at Tumbleweed seemed a fitting conclusion.

Author Sharon Wildwind invited me to write a guest post for the blog site: Poe’s Deadly Daughters. Here it is: http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/2011/06/canada-calling-susan-calder.html

For the trip home from Victoria, I organized one book promotion event: a presentation Tuesday evening, June 7th, at Hooked on Books, Main Street, Penticton, BC. As Will and I drove there, I thought how fortunate it was that we hadn’t scheduled this event for Monday or Wednesday, hockey playoff nights. All of British Columbia is wild about the Vancouver Canucks’ bid to win the Stanley Cup. At the Bloody Words banquet, people couldn’t settle down until they heard the game result (a win).

What I didn’t consider on Tuesday was the effect of rain. Will and I had avoided serious drizzle the whole trip. That Tuesday, the southern Okanagan skies grew ominously dark. We managed a walk along a self-interpretative boardwalk, a picnic by Osoyoos Lake and visits to several wineries before rain started battering our windshield. In Penticton, we parked in front of Hooked on Books, lugged in my presentation material during a respite from the rain and set out for the waterfront, carrying our umbrellas.

Within minutes, we had the umbrellas open. Viewed through downpour, the misted lakefront wasn’t particularly inviting. Seeing no restaurants in the vicinity, we returned to Main Street and ducked into a family run restaurant across from the bookstore. For most of our dinner, we were the only patrons. We enjoyed a delightful home-cooked turkey meal and had a chat with the owners’ son who works in computers during the day and helps his parents by waiting on tables in the evenings.

At Hooked on Books, Judy and Marcel, the owners, had set up chairs by the front window. Jerry, a bookstore patron and our first guest, arrived. Jerry has written about 300 pages of a book on meditation, inspired by his experience of living in Korea, and wanted to find out about getting published. I advised him to finish the book and join a writing group to get feedback. Judy gave him information on a Penticton group that Jerry hadn’t been aware existed. A problem with writing groups is that you tend not to hear about them unless you’re plugged into the writing circuit.

I shared my getting-published experience. Unlike many unpublished writers, Jerry appreciated the work involved with writing a book and finding a publisher. He said his former oilpatch job had involved working on presentations that routinely got rejected and he’d learned not to take rejection personally, as you never know where it’s coming from – a useful attitude for writers. So many get squelched by the submission process, which is mostly about rejection.

After an hour of conversation, Theresa arrived. She is writing a memoir and belongs to the Penticton writers’ group, but doesn’t have time to participate much in their meetings or pursue her writing. Theresa’s memoir subject and passion is the rescue of feral horses, a problem endemic to the Okanagan. Many of these beautiful creatures are being rounded up and sold for meat. Theresa worries that nothing will be done until someone is killed in a collision with horse. She belongs to Critteraid, an organization trying to save the wild horses through Project Equus. For more information visit criterraid.org.

Both Jerry and Theresa asked about the pros and cons of traditional publishing and self-publishing. I told them I had viewed self-publishing as a last resort due to the benefits of traditional: validation by people with experience in the field who will handle editing, production, distribution and more.

I wrapped up with a reading from Deadly Fall. Jerry noted that he writes too much description and needs to add dialogue; Theresa said she tends to leave out description.

Judy and Marcel were marvelous hosts. I wish them the best with their year-and-a-half old store. At the session, Jerry felt he got what he needs for the next step in his writing, Theresa talked about the cause that drives her writing and Will and I learned about Okanagan happenings from people who live there – not bad for a rainy evening in Penticton.