Writing? What’s that?

For all my constant talk (just ask my writer friends) about sitting down and just working on your book every day, I’ve been awfully lax this week. In my defense, though, I have been doing a lot of work on materials for my publisher, Midnight Ink, putting the finishing touches on my web site copy (including some new recipes), and this morning, I went for…dum, dum, DUM…the dreaded author photo shoot.

Of course, my three-year-old had to come with me, since he’s sick, so we showed up at the photographer’s front door with me dressed in a scratchy wool sweater (although it’s in the high 70s) and Ian in glow-in-the-dark fire truck pajamas, holding a bagel. Well, the first thing that happened was that the photographer’s gigantic dog Jake grabbed Ian’s bagel from his hand and ate it. Which made him burst into tears and throw himself into my arms, coating me liberally with cream cheese. Fortunately, the photographer produced a lollypop, I got most of the cream cheese off, and he spent the rest of the time sucking on candy and playing with little cars while I sweated in front of the lens.

So that’s over with, and I think it went well. We’ll see the results next week. And at least I’m in good company; she did an author photo for James Michener once (for all you Texas authors, her name is Colleen Stroup, and she’s lovely).

And I’ll be having breakfast with Susan Wittig Albert soon, which is also exciting. I love her series: she’s prolific, talented, and an amazing marketer. What a role model!

I am closing in on the big finish of Dead and Berried, and will be refining recipes soon. I am *always* looking for recipe contributions, so if you have any good ones, please send them along! You might find them on my web site… also, stay tuned for the Muffins are Murder cooking contest, for innkeepers and readers! The prize winners will find themselves — and their recipes — in the next Gray Whale Inn mystery!