Back to Work Monday Blues......

Well, I'm back at work after having a nice 2 week vacation. It was a good opportunity to charge my batteries, do some reading, do some writing and put up a new website for crime fiction (http://powderburnflash.blogspot.com) .

This year I have set a goal of reading and reviewing at least a book a week and writing 5,000 words a week. I have about 5,000 words after 10 days. I guess I need to pick up the pace. The problem is that the characters talk to me in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping and resting for the workday ahead.

I have finished reading a few ARC's this past week in preparing for some signings later on in the month.

Theresa Schwegel's PROBABLE CAUSE is her second book and in my opinion better than Edgar Winning OFFICER DOWN. You would think it would have been the safe bet to continue with the success of the first novel but Schwegel moves on to another main character who is fascinating and more complex.

Megan Abbott's THE SONG IS YOU deal with the real life disappearance of Jean Spangler. Her whole situation got sort of lost in the day behind a another famous murder of a wanna-be starlet - The Black Dahila. I read it in one sitting - yeah that good.

I'm also planning on spending some quality time this coming Sunday with Jim Fusilli who is teaching a one seminar in writing short stories. Jim, if you're reading this, we're heading over to that bar after the session.....

From the Mystery Bookstore site :
Jim Fusilli presents A WRITER’S WORKSHOP: The Art of the Short Story

Award-winning novelist JIM FUSILLI returns to the store at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 14 to lead a free writers’ workshop on The Art of the Short Story. A couple of years ago Fusilli, who writes the Terry Orr series, decided he wanted to improve his writing by taking on the challenge of short fiction. He mastered the discipline so well that eight of his short stories were published in 2006, many bridging genres between crime and “literary” fiction. Jim will spend two hours discussing the Art of the Short Story with aspiring writers, drawing on examples from his own stories and exploring the ways his short story work has strengthened his novel writing. “Serpent’s Dance,” a short prequel to his first novel, CLOSING TIME, aired on KCRW as part of its “Mean Streets USA” series; you can listen to it online at www.krcw.org.