Year Progressing Fast
March 6, 2023 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Bouchercon, Harlequin Romantic Suspense, March, Romance Writers of America, Undercover cowboy defender
It’s March already. Yes, the year is progressing fast. And it’s a bit different from the way it’s been for the past couple of years. I’m actually attending more meetings in person now—including a meeting of the local Sisters in Crime chapter yesterday. Some meetings are still on Zoom, though. And although I will be attending a couple of writing conferences, I won’t be going to as many as I used to. Looks like I’ll be at Bouchercon and the Romance Writers of America National Conference this year. Both will be in Southern California.
And March? It’s a good month for me. The third Shelter of Secrets story for Harlequin Romantic Suspense was just published: UNDERCOVER COWBOY DEFENDER. Two more books coming this year too.
I’ve finished the edits I was working on before, and now I’m writing my fourth Shelter of Secrets story.
Still busy, yes. And my dogs still keep me busy too.
How is the year progressing for you?
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Still Groundhog Day?
February 6, 2023 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as distractions, edits, recurrence, writing
It’s now the second month of 2023. Do things keep recurring to you, as they do with me—kind of an ongoing Groundhog Day, even though that was four days ago this year.
But as I’ve mentioned before, it’s another busy year for me. At the moment, I’m working on edits for two of the books I’ll have out later this year. Edit, after edit, after edit. Yes, a recurrence of edits, though they’re for different stories.
And then I have more books to write, and at the moment they’re all in series that have already begun. Yes, another similar, but different, recurrence in my writing.
Hey, though. I like them all, and that’s just the way things are for me now. Different, yet in some ways recurring.
That, plus my puppy Roxie just had her first birthday, and I love paying attention to her and our older dog Cari. Distractions from my writing? Definitely, as I’ve mentioned before. But happy ones. And delightfully recurring ones.
How about you? What recurs in your life and your writing?
~ Linda
Some of Linda’s Books
What’s With the New Year?
January 6, 2023 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as editing, happy new year, Lark O. Jensen, Linda O. Johnston, New Books, Writing Plans
Happy 2023, everyone! Should it be happy for a writer? Well, that depends on what you’re writing and what you want to accomplish in the new year.
Me? Well, I’ll have three new books published this year: Undercover Cowboy Defender, part of my Shelter of Secrets series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Cry Wolf, my second Alaska Untamed mystery for Crooked Lane under my pseudonym Lark O. Jensen, and CSI Colton and the Pregnant Witness, part of the large Harlequin Colton series—this year, Colton NYC.
I’m currently working on edits for CSI Colton and the Pregnant Witness and Cry Wolf. Next will come a couple more books in Shelter of Secrets. And more? Well, my mind is always churning on ideas that I haven’t yet fleshed out. And I probably will with at least some of them.
And you? If you’re a writer, do you have this year planned? Are you working on something you’ve already sold or determined to publish independently? Even if you have a day job, I suspect your mind is also moving along similar paths to mine, figuring out what you’ll write when—and how much you can accomplish in 2023.
Do you plan over the long term? Weekly? Monthly? Or do you just see how things go?
And do you allow distractions to slow you down, at least a bit—like me? My 11-month-old puppy Roxie still has lots of energy and she knows how to get my attention to throw toys to fetch even while I’m writing. Or, she’ll attack our older dog Cari and they’ll run around the house growling in fun at each other, another distraction. What’s your most fun distraction?
And where do you want to be at the end of 2023 when you tell the world all you’ve accomplished this year? Me? I want to continue writing and playing with the dogs and coming up with even more ideas and following through with them. Oh, yes. I intend to enjoy 2023.
Some of Linda’s Books
The Year is Ending, but Publicity is On The Rise!
December 6, 2022 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Crooked Lane, Facebook Parties, Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Holiday Giveaways, mysteries
It’s December. The year is coming to a close. But it appears that book promotion is ramping up even more!
For one thing, I’m delighted that two of my recent books, my Harlequin Romantic Suspense novel Guardian K-9 on Call, part of my Shelter of Secrets series, plus my—or my pseudonym Lark O. Jensen’s—mystery novel for Crooked Lane, Bear Witness, are both included in a really fun on-line Christmas Gift-Giving Guide featuring quite a few books. Here’s the link.
Also, today, December 6, I’m part of a Facebook party featuring a lot of the authors of the Coltons of Colorado books published this year. Mine, Shielding Colton’s Witness, was published in November. It’s at the Facebook group Coffee, Cupcakes and Contemporaries, and it’ll only be there today, but there are quite a few book giveaways.
And Coffee, Cupcakes and Contemporaries is also hosting the Second Annual Holly Jolly Holiday Party on Friday, December 9. Yes, I’ll be there too. And there may also be prizes.
That doesn’t include all the holiday parties for writers and others I’m invited to. Yes, this is a busy time of the year!
How about for the rest of you? Are you writers involved in any end-of-year promotion? How about parties held by the writers organizations you belong to? And readers, are you watching out for those on-line parties, interacting with writers, and entering contests?
In any case, have fun—and have a wonderful holiday season!
~Linda
Some of Linda’s Books
Is the World Reopening?
October 4, 2022 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston
I think it is! At least, I’ve attended more in-person events recently than I had in ages, and more to come.
Yes, I did go to a few small local events in person now and then before but not many. Mostly, I attended on Zoom. And I did go to several concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, getting seats in areas where it wasn’t very crowded.
But last month I attended an actual writers’ conference, Bouchercon, which was in Minneapolis this year. Fun conference, and it was definitely enjoyable to meet up with people I’d known before and to make new friends.
I also attended a gumbo party given by my local Mystery Writers of America chapter recently. And I went to a physical meeting of my local Sisters in Crime chapter as well.
And upcoming is an event being thrown by Orange County Romance Writers, a Celebration of Romance.
More to come? Most likely. For one thing, next year’s Bouchercon will be in San Diego, and the Romance Writers of America conference will be in Anaheim. Since I live in Los Angeles, both are already beckoning to me.
And I haven’t even mentioned some upcoming family travel plans. Yes, there’ll be more people around than I was used to for a while.
I doubt it’s only me. Are you starting to get out there in the world more yet? It’s still a bit scary. Though things have improved, people are still getting bad cases of Covid, including a friend of mine, and some are even dying.
But hope is increasing, as well as events!
~Linda
Some of Linda’s Many Books
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