In which it's been an interesting few weeks

Je suis tired, my dears. February has been a thorny month, spiky with challenges and not a great deal of time for replenishing. (So much for winter being a fallow time when you can just hibernate and wait for spring.) It's been a testing time, where just when I think I have a handle on something, something entirely different taps me on the shoulder. Of course, if you were to read my horoscope for this month, you'd think I was dancing with unicorns in a meadow made of marshmallows. (And if you have my dancing unicorn, give it BACK already.)

Anyway, enough whingeing. There have been loads of good things as well, starting with the fact that dear Mama didn't have to have surgery on her broken leg and is mending nicely. And here are a few other things that have made me smile during February:

*Johnny Weir. I ADORE him. I have enjoyed watching him skate for ages now, and at a time when the athletic envelope keeps getting pushed and some skaters seem like tidy little automatons churning out quads, Johnny is unabashedly, gloriously himself. He's also a terribly gracious tweeter. Twitterer? (I am quite smitten with his show on Sundance--"Be Good, Johnny Weir". Of course, the downside is that I now spontaneously erupt in a Russian accent for no good reason. It amuses me to no end, but if I lived with me, I'd be getting pretty tired of it.) If you haven't seen his exhibition skate to "Poker Face", oh dear me, you have missed out. Enjoy!

*Unlike the "Poker Face" clip--which I watch a few times a week--I've only seen this one once, but I defy you to watch it without saying out loud, "The HELL?" Because you really have no frame of reference for surreal until you've seen My Little Ponies doing a duet of "Defying Gravity". The "Wicked" bit starts halfway through.

*The 20 Questions interview I did over at All the World's Our Page, a writing blog kept by Kristen Callihan, Claire Gregory, Jennifer Hendren, and Rachel Walsh. I was so pleased to be invited to participate, and the questions were great fun--including some speculation on whether Robert Downey Jr.'s Holmes could take Brisbane in a fight...

*Being asked by a writer whose work I LOVE to blurb her next book. This thrills me to bits because, selfishly, I get to read her next book months before it hits the shelves. And secondly, her editor told me this author is a fan of mine, which is so hard for me to wrap my head around, I wonder if this is what it feels like to drop acid. I mean, honestly. This is someone whose books I read when I was aspiring, DYING, to be published. And she is very graciously behaving as if I'm doing her a favor. It's a strange world, people. A very strange world.

So, share the joy, duckies. What good things have happened to YOU this week?

In which I am guest blogging

You can find me over at Dara England's blog, Curiously Twisted, chatting about the Lady Julia series and The Dead Travel Fast. Dara writes historical, paranormal, and fantasy fiction and very kindly invited me to introduce my books to her readers. Take some time to poke around her site and say hi! Many thanks to Dara for the invitation and the warm welcome to her bloggy home.

On a completely unrelated note, the husband leaves town tomorrow for a quick business trip--you Chicagoans give him some nice weather if you can! I do so hate it when he goes away, but at least his trips are of the 48-hour variety. Because they are so short, I decided long ago to treat them as mini-holidays for myself. I pick up a new book or magazine, something splurgy like "Red", and maybe a new nail polish if OPI has done a gorgeous new red. The girlchild and I are taking in a movie this time. I despaired of ever seeing "Young Victoria", but it is finally showing here, and I am vibrating with impatience to see it. Sometimes we make food for dinner that her father doesn't like and pile up in bed with a full season of "Gilmore Girls" to eat it. In all, it's usually a very girlie, modestly indulgent time. And you? What do you do to treat yourself when you're at home and in a holiday mood?

In which we have bookmarks

For the first time ever, I have dipped a toe into the bookmark pool--and goodness me, but didn't they turn out nicely! My publicist put together a lovely layout featuring The Dead Travel Fast, and sent along a lot of them. I mean a LOT. So, if you would like a bookmark, drop a self-addressed stamped envelope in the post. You can send it to me at:

5251-18 John Tyler Highway #132
Williamsburg VA 23185

The fine print: I am afraid I can accommodate US residents only, and postage must be included.

Also, there have been updates posted on the website--various and sundry goodies to tie in with the new release, so be sure to putter around the pages and see what we've put together for you. Appearances start next week at Murder by the Book in Houston, and I cannot wait to meet more readers! Check out the appearances page for the most up-do-date details and mark your calendars if you're in the area.

Finally, one clever reader has already spotted that there is an Easter egg in The Dead Travel Fast--a single mention of a character from the Lady Julia Grey series! No spoilers, please, but if you want to make sure you're right, drop me an email or private message on Facebook or Twitter.

In which it is release day!

I am so, so happy that the release day for The Dead Travel Fast is here! Today I'll be online at the Barnes and Noble mystery book club to answer questions and chat. This month the mystery book club is honoring romantic suspense, and I'm so happy to have a chance to discuss my books. Drop by!

Also, you might enjoy the blog post I wrote for Writerspace about the new book--and leave a comment for a chance to win a prize!

In which we are flying by

Today is a fly-by post, my dears. If you haven't already signed up for the newsletter, use the handy widget on the right-hand sidebar because the first newsletter of 2010 is about to go live! It's got all sorts of interesting tidbits about The Dead Travel Fast, including a guide to spotting vampires...

Also, tomorrow is the official release day, so if your local bookstore has been firm about not putting the books out ahead of time, they should be on shelves and ready to sell! Many thanks to those of you who have already been reading and tweeting and emailing. I'm hugely excited to be able to share this book with y'all!

In which we're still talking creativity

Creativity, part deux, mon amis.

*Meditation each day. There are numerous studies to support the fact that meditation alters brain activity, leading to relaxation and more productive creativity. We will assume this is true, but even if it isn’t, meditation is a nice rest for your shoulders, arms, and brain.

*Self-help or creativity reading each day. I include Sarah Ban Breathnach, Julia Cameron, and all poetry in this category. Anything that supports your creativity and lets a breath of fresh air into your reading is to be encouraged. And a single page or poem each day is all it takes.

*One day a week for nothing but play. No, really. No bill-paying or laundry, no grocery shopping or cleaning the toilet. Organize your week so that one day is entirely free—or half day if that’s all you can manage, but make it a solid block of time rather than several hours scattered over the week. Use that time to do playful, silly, or self-indulgent things. These can vary widely depending upon your whims. It might just as easily be a snowy hike with the dog as a bubble bath with a glass of cold champagne. Go out for tapas, plant an orchid, break open a fresh pack of crayons and color. Whatever feels like play IS play to you. Just don’t do things that you could check off of a to-do list.

*Make a procrastination list and dismantle it, piece by piece. We all have things we dread doing. They loom over us, bugbears that steal away our peace of mind and tug impatiently at our creativity. Do away with them by writing them down, all of them. Then take one item at a time and finish it. If you can’t face an item, break it down into what SARK calls “micromovements”, the tiniest steps toward completion. (The beauty of this idea is that starting a micromovement or two generally gives you enough momentum to finish entirely. If not, at least you’ve made a start.) Reward yourself as you work through the list. It might take a day, it might take months. Regardless, finishing those tasks is an accomplishment and it will free up part of your brain for your more creative endeavors.

So, there you have the creativity manifesto, nine easy steps toward protecting and enhancing your creative mind.

In which we talk creativity

This is the first of a two-part post on creativity. Hope you enjoy!

The writing life is an interesting one. For starters, it requires a constant tango with creativity, an ongoing effort to keep the fires of inspiration stoked and hot, and as everyone knows, to keep a fire going, you have to have fuel.

But how do you fuel creativity? Constant writing is like leaving the lights on in the car—it can drain the battery, and sometimes settling down to write can feel furtive and a little dangerous, as if you’re tinkering under the hood to hotwire the engine. I do not believe in writers’ block, but I do believe in fatigue. I know what it is like to be bone-tired, feeling gray and fuzzy around the edges. That’s when the cursor blinking at you seems to be tapping out profanity in Morse code and even writing the simplest blog entry or email seems to be demanding more than you can give.

The short solution for such times is simply to get on with it. If you are on deadline, you have no choice but to put your tailfeathers in the chair and write--painful, but effective. But there is a way to limit such occasions in the future, a sort of creativity manifesto whose guidelines are an excellent way to safeguard your creative spark. Here are a few of the things I do to ensure that when I sit down to work, the words sit down with me:

*No computer until the creative work for the day is done. This means no emails, no blogging, no updating Facebook until the writing is finished. It doesn’t matter whether the writing goal for the day is page or word count or limited by the clock. Meet it and then you can tweet.

*No computer after 5pm. Working from home means that the boundaries are blurred. Reclaiming the evening is like posting guards and electrified fencing to make certain your time for yourself and your family is observed.

*No work-related reading after 4pm. See above. It is far too easy to drift into reading and taking notes when you need to be giving yourself—and your juicy, bubbling subconscious—a break.

*One non-writing creative activity each day. Sketching, knitting, baking, gardening, quilling, boating. It doesn’t matter. Almost anything can be done creatively, and so long as it doesn’t involve putting words on paper, it will serve to support your imagination.

*Less television, more podcasts. Podcasts are becoming increasingly more worthwhile. You can listen to books, interviews, and debates, take language lessons, catch up with world news, and take tours of famous landmarks and libraries. Armchair travel at its best.

More to come tomorrow!

In which I google

Oh, how I love Google! It is the perfect tool for mental mongooses like myself with our motto of "go and find out". (And if you're wondering if mongooses is the proper plural, I can assure you that google reveals mongooses is preferred, and mongeese is acceptable.) So this week, these are some of the terms I've googled:

*Eric Heiden--Olympic speed-skating champion from the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. I found out that he became a doctor and treats the US Olympic speed-skating team.

*Elsa Lanchester--I was watching The Private Life of Henry VIII and wondered what else she had done besides Bell, Book, and Candle and The Bride of Frankenstein. Her Anne of Cleves is hilarious.

*How tall is Shaun White?--To settle a family debate while we were watching halfpipe.

*snakeskin clutch--Shopping for the Las Vegas trip. I still haven't found one...

*Anne Boleyn--Can't remember what started this googlepalooza, but I do have a fondness for decapitated queens. I think I was looking for the Holbein sketch of her.

*Can baking soda strip color from my hair?--Yes, yes, it can.

*A River in the Sky--Elizabeth Peters' newest book and the LAST in the Amelia Peabody series. Just discovered it will be out in April, and am completely surprised because I honestly thought she'd wrapped up the series with the previous book. I will miss the Emersons!

*Southwest Airlines seat dimensions--After all the recent hoopla regarding Southwest Airlines seats, I was curious as to how big they really are. Turns out--not very.

*How is distance measured in ski jumping?--Another family debate during the Olympics. As it happens, we were all wrong. Distance isn't measured at the tip or tail of the ski, but the midpoint--under the ski boot.

And you? What have you googled lately?

In which you might want to hit the bookstore

So I've heard--via Twitter, Facebook, and emails!--that The Dead Travel Fast has been spotted in bookstores. I know Amazon has shipped pre-orders, and loads of folks have found it at their local booksellers, so if you were vexed at having to wait until March 1, get thee to a bookstore!

In which we talk Medusa and fashion

I recently received an email from a reader wondering about the Medusa pendant in the books and whether it exists. The answer is "sort of". I have a Medusa pendant that I found when I was writing Silent in the Grave. I threaded it onto a tiny string of black seed beads and wore it at the base of my throat for quite a few months when I was working on the first book in the series. It differs from the pendant in the book because it is a charm rather than a coin, and since it is in relief, there is no way to etch coded Shakespearean messages on the back. I haven't as yet had any luck finding a Medusa coin to wear as a pendant, but wouldn't it be divine if I did?

And that makes me wonder, what stamps have you put on your personal style as a result of reading a book? I Capture the Castle makes me long for ratty old vintage furs and bluebell perfume. And I remember wanting a red taffeta petticoat after I read Gone With the Wind, but perhaps it's just me. Does anyone else crave bright red shoes after reading Chocolat? And if you had to take a single character for sartorial inspiration, who would it be and why?

In which it is never to late to serve justice

I am fascinated by this story out of Sicily: police there have called in forensic investigators to solve the murder of a baroness and her lover discovered in flagrante--more than four hundred years after the fact. It boggles the mind to think how they actually mean to piece together a solution to a crime committed in 1563, but I rather like the idea that they mean to try. For us--and for the investigators at the beginning--it is an academic exercise. The guilty cannot be tried except in the court of public opinion. But there is something deeply satisfying about laying some ghosts to rest. DNA testing has definitively identified the remains of Louis XVII, the lost Dauphin, as well as the Romanovs. Those are chapters in the history book that now have a final page. And even though not every mystery in history will be solved--the princes in the Tower, for instance--it is exciting to see closure brought to some crimes and victims who can rest at last in peace.

In which we need the silly

Because sometimes one really needs to balance the serious with the frivolous, I give you Shaun the Sheep's website. When I count sheep at night--and this is rare because I am a champion sleeper--they always look like Shaun. And sometimes they have numbers on their sides. And sometimes they have dyed fleeces--red, blue, even plaid...

In which I am cheating on you

I'm blogging elsewhere--Fresh Fiction, to be precise! Head over there and check out how a book gets its title.

In which we need a Jane Austen channel

All Jane, all the time. But until then, let us give thanks for PBS. This weekend, Masterpiece is airing "Northanger Abbey", which is either new or which I missed entirely the first time around. In any event, there are Gothic thrills to be had, and I am VERY pleased.

I am also doing a fangirl squee over the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics because I am a complete Olympic nerd. I will watch any event, including biathlon and curling, and I still lament the loss of the "Up Close and Personal" features when ABC aired the games. (My complaint with NBC is that they focus on Americans almost exclusively. ABC did a far better job of airing lots of different events and early rounds of competition on one network than NBC does with half a dozen.) Anyway, I'm desperately excited about the winter games, and I know the Canadians will do a fabulous job. And how cute are those mittens?!

In which I booked a trip

Last week, the darling husband found some money--enough for a vacation. Well, not so much "found" as "calculated our tax refund". Anyway, we were appalled to realize we had not taken a proper vacation together in 19 years. We've tagged along on each other's business trips; we've taken family trips, and we've done quick overnight stays, but we haven't just gone away together for days on end. Lamentable, no?

So, with a tidy little sum burning a hole in our pockets, we started to ponder destinations. We had originally planned a trip to Greece this April until orthodontia intervened and gobbled up our trip funds. (You'd think by the time your child is fifteen, you'd be off the hook for expensive dental work. You'd be wrong.) Anyway, we were perfectly happy to hand the Greece fund to the orthodontist, but when this money turned up, neither of us seemed quite as enthused about traveling overseas. To begin with, my pragmatic husband pointed out that the money was enough to give us a luxurious trip in the US or a more frugal vacation if we opted for Europe given the cost of overseas airline tickets.

There was another important consideration as well: travel abroad is glamorous and exciting and exhausting. Getting by in a foreign language, calculating prices in a different economy, counting out strange coins--all of it is deeply satisfying and extremely tiring. I just don't have the stamina for a trip of that sort just now. I want nothing more than escape and relaxation.

So that got us focused on finding a relaxing destination. Part of the reason I love taking our daughter to Disney World is that I find it to be the most stress-free place on earth. (No, really.) Because in Disney World, I simply don't care what we do. I know there will be shopping and shows and rides and if we miss something, I don't mind, whereas if I were in London and missed Buckingham Palace or Kensington Palace or the British Museum or Sir John Soane's House or tea at Kensington Gardens or Westminster Abbey or any one of a hundred other places I've been MANY times before, I would sob into my little floral handkerchiefs for days. In a glorious, historic city, there are things you MUST do or you return home feeling a sad failure. So the husband and I agreed, we wanted a grown-up version of Disney World where we could escape, just the two of us, and leave work behind for a few days and do as little or as much as we liked without worrying about what we might be missing. We wanted shows, shopping, superb restaurants, and opportunities for general lounging in luxurious surroundings.

The consensus? Vegas, baby! Yes, I know, it's frenetic and crazy, but we decided on a lovely hotel with a great spa, beautiful pools, spectacular artwork, and more restaurants and stores than we can possibly sample while we're there. And since I happen to be uncommonly lucky at the blackjack table, we may do a wee bit of gambling...

Also, many thanks for the kind suggestions and good wishes for my mom. She's opted for a chic black cast and is learning to pootle around quite well on her crutches!

In which I am pondering love letters

It's the time of year, I suppose, but I have always adored love letters and have several collections of some of the most poetic, tortured, romantic, whimsical, and passionate letters ever penned. Today I am posting one of my favorites, written by Sullivan Ballou, a major in the Union army during the Civil War, for his wife, Sarah.


My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more . . .

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .

Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness . . .

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .

A week after this letter was written, Sullivan Ballou died from wounds sustained at the First Battle of Bull Run. The letter was found among his effects. He was 32 when he died, and his 24-year old widow never remarried.

In which Friday started off to be a nice day...

Last Friday my mom and I went to the Spa at Colonial Williamsburg--highly recommended, BTW--for birthday week manis and pedis. It was a wonderful experience and we left there feeling relaxed and hugely pampered, until we came home and my mother promptly broke her ankle. Well, technically, her leg. She has a nice clean break in the fibula, which meant the rest of Friday was spent in the emergency room in the middle of a snowstorm, but mercifully no surgery! (At a loss for what to do with myself when she went up to X-ray, I tweeted, and very much appreciate the kind messages.) Hopefully she'll be seeing the orthopedic specialist today for the cast, and I cannot WAIT. I will be twitchy until we get her home and comfortable again.

I know it's going to mean several weeks of being mostly sofa-bound for her--thank goodness the Olympics are about to start!--and we're going to get a lot of very excellent mother-daughter time. I plan on taking my laptop and camping out in her living room for much of each day. But I know she's going to get restless and want some things to do besides just watching TV. I've got her stocked with books, magazines, Spanish lessons, notecards for writing letters, and crochet materials. I would LOVE some ideas for other things she could do while sitting on the couch and knitting her bones back together!

In which I am musing on gentlemen

Thanks to the Sartorialist. Scroll down to the entry titled A Graceful Man, A Gentleman. It's a lovely bit of philosophy on being a gentleman. I am a very lucky girl--I live with two extremely fine gentlemen who are very careful to show their graceful ways on a daily basis. What about up and coming gentlemen, I wonder? Are boys being taught to be gracious and thoughtful these days?

In which I might want to take a picture

Our electronics have been doing wonky things lately--without Mercury even being retrograde! We've replaced some items, like one of the televisions, and batteries in almost everything else. (And why, I am forced to wonder, does Best Buy happily sell you a laptop but not a replacement battery, hmmmmm?) In any event, with all the electronics demanding attention and a lot of travel coming up, we've decided to poke around and look at new cameras. I don't want anything so expensive that I will die a thousand deaths if anything happens to it, so I'm wondering what you own that you love that is $300 or less. Oh, and it needs to be pretty user-friendly, because you know me--I still think there's a tiny dude inside the camera sketching a picture. Sony? Nikon? Canon? Do tell....

In which being a grown-up rocks

It always amazes me when people wax nostalgic about their youth. Yes, my childhood was fine and dandy, but honestly, being a grown-up is stupendously better. Why? Because of this list of things I will NEVER again have to do in my lifetime:

1. Hit a ball. Run far. Run fast. Pretend to care about foul lines, missed serves, or any other aspect of the ritualized horror that is physical education. (Honestly, why not a nice yoga class or a bit of Zumba? Because wind sprints? NOT CREATIVE, people.)

2. Perform quadratic equations. Let's be entirely forthright here, the vast majority of what we learned in math class is boring and useless for 99.99% of the population--hey look! I just used numbers!--and we all know it. There should be a series of courses called Practical Math and it should do nothing but teach you how to USE math in pragmatic ways like tallying the discount on the mark-down rack at Neiman-Marcus or calculating how much paint you need. And that is IT. Anybody wanting to pursue a career where higher math is needed can take it as an elective and spare the rest of us.

3. Diagram sentences. See above. Unless you are going into a narrow and specialized field populated with pedantic grammarians, you will not care about the proper placement of your participles on a diagram and whether they are dangling. Believe me, I taught it and I don't care.

4. Read a book I don't like. I'm looking at you, Lord of the Flies.

5. Group projects. File this under "does not work well with others". I am STILL holding a grudge against my sophomore English teacher for taking a point off every time my project partner misspelled "Caesar". She docked us more than 40 points for spelling and never graded the content. I hope it still keeps her up at night.

What will you not miss about your youth and childhood?

In which we have doodles in the snow

Last weekend saw a major snowfall for us--about 7 1/2 inches, which I realize is laughable to some of you, but it's a big deal for us. They haven't even cleared the parking places at Trader Joe's yet, THAT is how big a deal it is. Anyway, the we took the doodles out for a "winter funtime extravaganza" and this is the result--a shot of the pair of them looking furtive and a close-up of Deacon that ought to be captioned, "Oh, hai. I can has snow?"

Today is also the birthday of my very favorite woman in the world, my mother. The fact that I adore her is reason enough to mention her birthday here, but all of you have seen her work--she proofreads my manuscripts before they go out the door! Happy birthday, Mama!

In which you can win books!

There is still time to head over to All About Romance and leave a comment on the interview I gave about The Dead Travel Fast to enter to win one of ten copies! Plus, Sandy from AAR asked some great questions, and you'll get some details on the book I haven't talked about anywhere else.

Also, if you're in the mood for a bit of nineteenth-century sleuthing, do check out Anna Dean's book, Bellfield Hall, first released in the UK as A Moment of Silence. It's the first in the Dido Kent mystery series, and just the thing for a chilly winter's afternoon with a pot of tea--and a scone!

In which we love The Oatmeal

And in particular this post on words you need to stop misspelling. Someone has to save the words! Might not be a poster you want to hang up at work, but it is a highly effective grammar aid.