I have been woefully neglecting the blog since mid December and I was trying think of the best way to  jump start things.  Over the last couple of day I have thought about writing.

1. A mawkishly sentimental post in memory of Coach Dean Smith. I'm not really a sports fan, but I am a Tarheel bred and I do support social justice. I have a lot of feelings on the death of this great man. 
2. A scolding post about how outrageously SICK I am of the whole 50 Shades phenomenon.
3. A thoughtful and referenced post about how Outlander can teach us more about true BDSM than 50 Shades ever could.

This week, I'm getting into the holiday spirit (Hey, I waited until after Halloween) reviewing Billie Thomas's Murder on the First Day of Christmas.

Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda work together in an interior decorating business and the holiday season is a hot time for them. But when their clients start dying more than just their business is threatened. Despite some generational differences and the challenge of investigating secretly in a small town, they work together to solve the mystery. 

It's Sarah MacAlpin's birthday! It's also the day before the start of NaNoWriMo. Here's a vlog about my plans for the month of November. 

If you've read The River Maiden, you know that the Halloween celebration in Chapel Hill figures very highly in the story. So, I thought I would also share a video of last year's Halloween to give you an idea of what it's actually like. Enjoy. 

Veterinarian Ava Martinez, is the niece of one of the South's biggest crime lords. She is determined not to get sucked into the underworld that has left her father in prison and her mother missing. One night she happens across an unconscious man in the trunk of a car outside one of her uncle's fronts. Risking her own life to do the right thing she helps him escape and delivers him to the emergency room. She hopes that's the last anyone knows or the event. Imagine her surprise a few days later when he shows up at her clinic with a stray dog that he is adopting and he turns out to be an Assistant District Attorney.  The very persistent prosecutor, Jordan Wellington, is smitten at first sight and pursues Dr. Martinez doggedly (pun intended) though not knowing that she is the person who saved his life. He has no memory of the night that he was attacked. 

Last weekend I attended the James River Writers Conference. I feel so lucky to have a conference where I can soak up wisdom from the likes of Lee Smith and Barbara Kingsolver practically in my own back yard. I came a way feeling energized and great about the professional path that I'm on. Then of course I ran into a post on a writers forum I belong to about how self-published authors aren't true authors. When I was done seething, I started reflecting on how most of the industry professionals that I had met over the weekend had NOT had that same attitude. 

Saturday afternoon, sitting in a rather stuffy basement room in downtown Richmond, as people were filing in to hear Hugh Howey talk about "Self-publishing and the Changing Climate for Writers and Readers" I witnessed something that not a lot of people get to see, a bestselling author shifting around chairs to make sure that everyone got the best seat possible. It was a good thing he did too. By the end of the hour, people were standing in the back of the room. I can only hope that the other folks left there feeling as empowered as I did.