If You Dream It, You Can Do It!

The last day of the summer library reading challenge is here!  I wanted to read more books during this challenge than I read during the winter challenge and I achieved that goal. Winter reading: 6 books. Summer reading: 12 books.  Maybe this time I'll win a gift card! 

A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm so glad I decided to read this book. This is such a well done Cozy Mystery. I love the setting of Blue Lake, the old home that has secrets, and Lena the would-be writer, getting the job of a lifetime!

Julia Buckley does such a nice job of building suspense in this novel -will Camilla be OK, is Lena safe? Is Sam West a good guy? Bob's horrible son made me literally LOL. Such a clever little thing.

I very much enjoyed that the story takes place w/o there having to be murder on top of murder in the small town--which can seem far fetched. I was almost certain a couple of characters had killed Martin, but I was wrong! How fun to be wrong.

5 stars by far! I can't wait to read the next adventure!

If you have been looking for a mystery that takes place in a Hallmark world, this book is for you. It's an excellent introduction into the world of cozy mysteries.  It is also a very good book to read if you are like me and are working on writing your own mystery book.  I would love to craft a book like this one!




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New Beginnings Need Not Wait for a New Year

You may recall a couple of posts ago, I said I would be sharing an exciting new project I've decided to embark upon this Fall.  You probably don't recall this, but you may.  Ready for the scoop?  For decades I have avoided doing something I loved and planned to make my career, to write.  

Labor Day weekend the stars aligned and I had a mental shift.  I decided to stop waiting for a 'book worthy' idea to show up in my life.  Instead I made an executive decision to stop avoiding writing and just do it.  I don't need to write the next great american novel or a best seller. I think I'd rather write  comfort food, a cozy mystery. 

What's a cozy mystery?  It's when the main characteristic the story  is not a detective or police person and they are thrust into a situation where they must solve a murder. The murder typically takes place off the page and the setting is typically a small town with a small pool of potential suspects. The main character solves the murder the old fashion way-by talking with people and deduction.  If you have any familiarity with the old show "Murder, She Wrote." then you have the idea. 

I spent the rest of September working on my outline and now I am ready to write. I am going to see what I can get done in October, and then I'm challenging myself to do      NaNoWriMo(National Novel Writing Month) this November. 

I'm exciting to spend time with my Main Character who is still nameless.  I just call her Pro so far, but her daughter is Hildegard (as per Ms. Anna's request).

Wish me luck!  

xoxo