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“The Fourth Man” won a prize!
My short story, “The Fourth Man,” won second prize in the Arizona Mystery Writers annual short story contest! The Jim Martin Memorial Short Story Contest recognizes short mystery, suspense, and thriller fiction up to 2500 words. “The Fourth Man” was inspired in part by my desire to see more older women in crime stories that aren’t cozy mysteries (not that there’s anything wrong with cozy mysteries). I fiddled with the idea of an elderly main character, and Victoria Patrick–former darling of B-movie Westerns who describes herself as “Annie Oakley with double-Ds”–marched onto the page, struck a pose, and proceeded to embarrass the hell out of her daughter. Here’s the opening:…
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Check out my award-winning mystery story, “Walk Me Home”
I have an award-winning mystery short story! My story, “Walk Me Home,” won the 2022 Jim Martin Memorial Short Story Contest from Arizona Mystery Writers. SQUEEEEEE!!! Hey, I did warn you of incoming SQUEEEEE-laden announcements. What’s the story about? Thanks for asking! Rachel, a nerdy, socially awkward college freshman, wants Robert. And tonight she just might get him.
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My poem is a finalist! (and there are memes)
This week’s update will be short, because as I lamented last week, my day job is kicking my butt. Also, I’m trying to get a whole bunch of stuff done before next Friday, when Long-Suffering Husband and I are escaping to the White Mountains (the ones in AZ, not NH) for 3 days of forested fun to celebrate our 32nd (!!!!!) anniversary. That said, I do have some exciting writing news to share this week, plus a fresh batch of memes, but first: welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it. Writing News My poem, “The…
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Delta Dawn won first place! (Weekend Coffee Share #14)
Good morning, and happy Friday! I have big writing news to share with y’all, but first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Have a seat, grab a treat, and let’s chat out in the garden on this gorgeous desert morning. Big writing news I’m excited to report that my second novel, a domestic suspense/thriller called Delta Dawn, won first place in the unpublished novel division of the Arizona Authors Association Annual Literary Contest! I still need to make substantial revisions before it will be ready to query, but I’m so excited that people actually liked it. I’m also grateful to the judges, who provided helpful…
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Anniversary, nominated for an award, new Facebook page, other odds and ends (Weekend Coffee Share #6)
Good morning and happy Friday! Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Come on in, pull up a seat, and join me. It’s starting to feel like fall here in Tucson. We’re still having triple-digit temps (it’s Arizona), but the nights are cooler, and this morning we even have clouds. The featured image on this post was taken a few days ago outside my building at work. Everything is still so green and pretty from the monsoon rains. 30 years! How is that even possible? Today’s chat will be a quick roundup of odds and ends, because I’m leaving soon for a weekend trip to Bisbee,…
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#SoCS: What a day! (rinse, repeat)
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday blog hop. Linda Hill posts a prompt every Friday; this week’s prompt is: Find a word containing “jour” or use it as is. Bonus points if you start or end your post with that word. Jour is French for, “day.” I thought so, because the phrase, “du jour,” is pretty common, but I Googled it just to make sure, because God forbid I make a bigger idiot out of myself than usual… in print… on the internet. If you’d like to learn more about the word, see the Wiktionary entry. Yes, I am a librarian. Why do you ask? So……
Suspense | Horror | Romance
