Edging Toward One Finish and Celebrating Another by Lucy Burdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: I admire writers who manage to block out an entire plot before they begin writing. I am not one of them. I have a premise at the beginning, hopefully a good one, and an idea of my characters’ directions. Then I start in. You might remember that five of us Reds have been chatting behind the scenes to share our writing progress. This has been so helpful even if it’s demoralizing when my total word count is zero. It keeps me moving forward when I might otherwise become hopelessly distracted. 

A couple of weeks ago, I told these Reds that I finally figured out why I didn’t know who had committed the murder in book 16. I didn’t know enough about the suspects to understand who would really be capable of such a crime and why. Obvious right? But it felt like a breakthrough! That’s my process. Write and then think, write and think. This book (still untitled) is due September 1. I am probably 5/7 of the way through, and quite pleased with how it’s turning out. Here’s a tiny snippet from a second attack that takes place outside a daycare. (Now that I’ve written this, I’ll need to figure out what really happened.)

The night darkness was streaked with flashing blue and red lights, from four police vehicles and an ambulance. The multicolored dancing children painted on the outside cement wall were warped into distorted and throbbing figures by the strobe lights on the cars.

A gaggle of onlookers had gathered and were being pushed back to the edge of the property by officers, one of them Danielle's husband Jeremy. I struggled out of the back seat and wove through the crowd to get closer to him.

“Jeremy,” I hissed, waving him toward me. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

He rolled his eyes as if to say I surely knew better but moved over to speak to me anyway. “From what I can tell, one of the employees from Toddlers and Tots was shot.” He pointed to a still form on the front lawn, covered with a foil blanket and surrounded by rescue workers. Several of them had dropped to their knees to tend to the victim. Police officers were interviewing a woman near the entrance to the building. “That’s Alice Mayhill, the owner. She called it in, after she heard noises in the yard, then what she believed to be a gunshot. She lives upstairs.”

“Have any suspects been apprehended?” asked Damian, who was now standing behind me. He placed a protective hand on my shoulder.

“None so far,” said Jeremy. One of the other officers began yelling for him. “Gotta go.”

“Miss Gloria probably knows more about this from listening to her police scanner than Jeremy does standing right in the thick of things,” I muttered.

Meanwhile, I’m working to set up promotion for THE MANGO MURDERS, arriving in bookstores near you on August 12. There will be a grand book launch at RJ Julia‘s in Madison CT on August 12 at 6:30 with cake, wine, and door prizes. This book party is kind of special because it celebrates novel number 25! 

I still remember my very first book event for SIX STROKES UNDER back in 2002. I told everyone I knew about it. We had so many people sign up that it had to be moved from the bookstore to the library. 

I certainly had no idea where the writing journey would take me, but 

I’m so glad to be here with all of you. 

What turn or outcome in your life has surprised you?

Rhys loves giving herself a challenge.

 RHYS BOWEN: Well, dear Reddies, I am about to send my latest book off to the publisher. It's called (at the moment. Who knows what marketing will finally want it called) FROM SEA TO SKYE. I think I've told you about it before. Set in the 1960s, and 1930s and early 1900s.. a young writer is hired to help an elderly writer with dementia finish her last novel.

The challenge has been to give the reader what the elderly writer has written so far, so that the young writer can go to Skye and find clues to what really happened there. Which meant I had to write a novel in a style that is no only not my own, but is also not the usual style of this writer!  Yes, I must be a glutton for punishment.

But I hope I've carried it off:

Here's how the manuscript starts:

But the writer didn't always write like this. Here is a paragraph in her usual style:

When John was reading my manuscript, as he always does, he wanted to change the wording in one of these chapters.

"You can't do that," I said. "I didn't write it."

"Who did?" He looked confused.

"Iris Blackburn. It's her book. The phrasing has to be hers," I said 

"Who is Iris Blackburn?" He was more confused now.

"The writer of The Wild Girl.  Okay, it's me, but I'm writing as Iris Blackburn"

I don't think he has completely understood this yet.

Anyway, it's done and heading for my publisher and I'll be taking a well-earned rest! I really enjoyed revisiting the island of Skye vicariously. It's been years since I was in Scotland but I still have keen memories.

Have you enjoyed reading a book within a book? One of my favorite books ever was Possession by A S Byatt. The true story is revealed through two lots of poetry, both brilliantly constructed with the feel of Tennyson and Rosetti. I don't claim that mine is anywhere as good but it is a good story with a lovely twist at the end.

And I hope you don't mind if I finish with a small plug for my upcoming book, MRS ENDICOTT'S SPLENDID ADVENTURE.  I've been thrilled to see it included in lists of the best books for the second half of the year, the best upcoming historicals etc. It comes out August 5 and I am doing lots of Zoom interviews, podcasts etc. I'll keep you up to date on those.

A Sneak Peek! at ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: First, two bits of breaking news! 

First, my new book, ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS, a just got a rave starred review from Library Journal! How fantastic is that? It says:

“Ryan nails the feel and pace of life as an author, and creates a love letter to booksellers and librarians amid the suspense and twists. Ryan has written her best book to date, which should be on everyone’s reading list."

So that’s good, huh? I can tell you I am totally and utterly thrilled. Whoo hoo.

The next breaking news: there’s a Goodreads giveaway for ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS all right now! And here is the link.

Make sure you enter! It’s such an easy way to win an advance review copy of this book. Crossing fingers you win.  (And all good reviews are joyfully welcomed.)

I am so thrilled about this book.

It's the story of debut Author Tessa Calloway, whose first novel becomes a surprise bestseller – – and she is sent on a glamorous coast-to-coast book tour. Problem is, it soon becomes clear that someone is not only trying to ruin that career, but also destroy her beloved family back home. 

What makes it even worse, Tessa fears it is all her fault – – her current danger the result of a Faustian bargain she made long ago. 

And now,  a big-time book tour becomes a deadly cross-country cat and mouse chase. And the author must run for her life. 

It’s also super meta! As you can imagine. And when the time comes, I’ll tell you where the idea came from. But any author on book tour or any reader who’s ever attended a book event will recognize the insidious reality— authors on tour are incredibly vulnerable.

Here is a tiny snippet from an early chapter  of the book – – an exhausted Tessa, returning to her hotel room, gets a call from her husband Henry.

The long hotel corridor stretched out in front of her, jewel-toned paisley carpeting in some only-in-hotels pattern, lily-shaped sconces casting a dim glow onto the row of numbered doors.

She found hers, 3016, and patted her pockets for her room key card. She tapped the card against the metal square. The light blinked insolently red.

She tried the card’s other side. Red.

“Kidding me?” She tried again. Red. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Tessa?” Henry. Finally.

“Hey, honey. Hang on. My key card isn’t working,” she interrupted his greeting.

“Did you put it against your phone again?”

“No. I didn’t.” Though possibly she had. “Sometimes they’re cranky. So about Linny—”

“How’d it go tonight? They loved you, right? Tessa Calloway, instant best-selling author. Inspirer of women. Bringer of power. The darling of social media. Hang on, Tesser,” Henry said. “I think I heard something. A sound. I’ll call you back in ten minutes. Fix your key.”

“What’s wrong? What sound? Is it Linny?” The kids. Henry. Their brand-new house. But there was only the flat white noise of nothing. He’d hung up.

Footsteps behind her. A man carrying a grease-spotted paper bag from Panera glanced at her as he walked by; he seemed to be taking in her face, her whisper, her bag, her suitcase, her phone call. She smiled at him, the wan acknowledgement of a fellow traveler, telegraphing all good, nothing to see here, waiting for my husband to check on a strange sound in our new house.

The man paused, assessed her again, opened his door. At least Panera Guy had a key that worked.

It’d be easy for someone like him to pretend to be a registered guest, the thought crossed her mind. While, in reality, be lurking, scouting, targeting. Using the built-in anonymity and accepted proximity as cover. As disguise.

But that was her writer-mind at work. These days, with a deadline for an unwritten second book looming, everything became a potential plot element.

She examined her card again, front and back, trying to discover what was wrong.

Oh.

She patted the pockets of her new book-tour trench coat; knee-length, black, suitable for airplane, rain, and substitute bathrobe. In the right-side pocket, her fingers closed over another hard plastic rectangle. She’d been using a key card from her previous hotel.

“Idiot,” she whispered.

She tapped, and her keypad light went green. She opened the door, then paused. Looked, ridiculously, for Panera Guy.

But the corridor was silent, empty, only an anonymous row of identical closed doors. She deadbolted her own door. Chained it.

She was Tessa Calloway now, and safe.

 

I will be on tour for this book starting in September, and cannot wait to see you all! We are announcing the tour stops very soon, and of course you will be the first to hear.

Readers, have you ever been to an event on an author's book tour? What was your experience?  Authors, are book tours a treat for you? Or a test of your endurance?

(And here is that Goodreads Giveaway link again!)