I completely missed the month of February on my blog. In part, because I was very busy and in part, because I was very busy celebrating. Both are good things—just not for my blog.
The second half of 2018 had me doing quite a bit of juggling—writing book three, copy edits and page proofs for book two, and marketing book one along with my regular life. The result was that I was way behind on book three. With only two months left before I had to submit the manuscript, it needed another thorough edit. So in February I planted myself in front of my laptop and got to work.
Then the nominations came out for the Lefty Awards and A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder was nominated for best debut novel! I couldn’t believe it! I celebrated, then immediately made arrangements to go to the Left Coast Crime Conference in Vancouver (March 28th – 31st). If you’re going, come say hi! I’ll be at the Debut Author Breakfast Friday morning from 7:30 to 8:30, and on the Debut Nominee Panel from 1:30 – 2:15. Fellow nominee, Tracy Clark and I will be hosting a table at the banquet Saturday night and we’d love to have you join us. Otherwise, I’ll be haunting the bookroom and lobby and enjoying the other panels! 
I got back to work and was moving right along when I heard A Lady’s Guide had made the short list for the Mary Higgins-Clark award! This was incredible! I love Mary Higgins-Clark. I met her at a writers’ conference in 1993 and was awed by how gracious and down to earth she was. It’s such a thrill to be nominated for this award. Of course, I celebrated.
Responsible as ever, I got back to work again, but I hadn’t quite finished this revision when I heard the announcement of the Agatha Award nominees. This time I figured I must be dreaming when A Lady’s Guide was nominated for Best Debut! Sadly, I have a conflict that will keep me from attending the Malice Domestic Conference, but I’m tickled to be nominated! 
Meanwhile, I am also gearing up for a newsletter. I am not particularly techy, so working with Mail Chimp and putting a subscribe link on my website (you will notice there’s a pop-up now) did not come naturally to me.
Eventually, I managed the technical stuff, the nomination announcements ended, and I actually finished my revision, but that didn’t happen until last week. I still have a few tweaks to make before I send it to my editor, but I have to say I’m very happy with it and I can’t wait to share it with you!
