How Long is Too Long?

Yesterday I posted on Facebook that I had finished the first draft of my new Lady Georgie book and felt it was a little long, so the next step was to bring out the axe.

I was surprised this morning to see a whole lot of replies saying "please don't cut it. We want your books to be as long as possible." Some were kind enough to add, 'we don't want them to end." but others added, "We love long books."

So now I'm curious--do you love long books? Do you select books based on length? Are you turned off by big fat books or do you look forward to staying with them for a while? Is there a certain length that mysteries should be? (mine are usually around 300 pages. The Molly Murphy series goes a little longer, closer to 400 sometimes).

I'm actually re-reading the last Harry Potter book at the moment--as a sort of wind-down after all the frantic activity in my life this month and I have to say I am not finding the 700 pages to be a chore. it's nice to see, when I pick it up, that there are still a few hundred pages to go.

And of course with my new Kindle the question of the weight of a 700 page book is removed from the equation, isn't it? I can read War and Peace, holding it in one hand!! And speaking of weight--the thinness and lightness of Kindle was one of the factors in deciding to go with it over the iPad or even the Nook. But now I think I should get a case for it and you know what? The cases are heavy. Does that make sense? Can anyone suggest a light little sleeve that keeps out dust but doesn't turn my Kindle into a clunky object?

It's a Small World

I've just been checking my blog stats and among other things it shows where my blog visitors come from. I was surprised to see that I have visitors from both Russia and Egypt. Either this is wonderful and it means my readership is spreading throughout the world, OR it means someone in Russia is looking for a way to hack/spam/take over my blog and someone in Egypt is similarly looking for a way to infiltrate my blog with terror messages.

Let's hope the former! I'm amazed at how small the world has become. When I ran a contest on a website last year the prize for the entries that had traveled the most miles went to South Africa, followed by Finland. I certainly have friends from all over the world on Facebook. Every now and then I'm reading through Facebook news and a chat button will click on and I find myself chatting with someone from Africa or Australia. How cool is this? Perhaps Facebook will actually achieve what everyone else has tried to do--bring about world peace and understanding!

Today I go literary... I'm reading at Litquake, which is a week long festival of the written word in San Francisco. I'm reading at a theater with fellow crime writers Barry Eisler, Sophie Littlefield and one more, but we follow a group of poets and after us a group of memoirs. I'm going first, thanks to beginning with B,so I'm just hoping that the poet before me hasn't written a long poem about the death of a butterfly or the end of the world, because I intend to make people laugh with an excerpt from Royal Blood.

The End is in Sight

Today I hope to write those fabulous words THE END on my next Lady Georgie mystery. Of course it will not be the end. It will be the end of the first draft, to be followed by intense revision which includes reading out loud (boy, don't those clumsy sentenses and repeated words jump off the page) having trusted readers read it, enduring a battle with my husband as he does a line by line edit and tries to make me change things I don't want to change... and finally the rewrite and off to the publisher, hopefully within the next three weeks.

But once I've got that first draft down the load becomes lighter. I know the story is there. It just needs a little tweeking--rather like a dressmaker who does the final fitting with some small nips and tucks to make it perfect. And it's been such a fun story--most of it taking place in Nice (where I did all that gruelling research under a hot Mediterranean sun), and it involves a stolen royal necklace, a handsome marquis who may or may not take the place of Darcy, naughty parties and various bodies. Oh, and Coco Chanel. What more could anyone want. Great food, fine wines, lovely fashions, sex and violence. it's bound to be a hit, isn't it?

Celebrating a life

Today is my birthday and it started off with a really funny card and Sarah Palin's book all nicely wrapped up for me by my husband John. (he knows my feelings on that lady) Now I've threatened to get even with him and promised to read him a chapter every night! Inside the book was a very generous check, and I'm about to buy a Kindle and lots of books to go with it. During my tour I jotted down titles of books I wanted to read so I've got a good start.

I was also amazed to find over 150 birthday wishes waiting for me on Facebook--from friends all over the world. Isn't technology great? And it's also made me appreciate how blessed I am with my friends and family.

I was supposed to spend a fabulous day at the spa with my daughter Jane, but again best laid plans etc... my granddaughter Meghan woke with a fever and sore throat. Sweet little thing that she is she said, "Couldn't you find a babysitter for me so you can take Nana out on her birthday?"

So we've rescheduled the spa day for next week and the weather is gorgeous and I may just take a book down to the pool, plus a little chocolate, and some grapes... oh, and I may do some shopping

On Wearing more than one hat

As a writer I am called upon to wear more than one fitgurative hat. One minute I'm sitting focused at my desk, writing away to meet a deadline, living in a world that is not my own reality/ The next I'm required to get dressed in my "famous author" clothes and go out to speak to people about my books, to entertain them, make them laugh and essentially to sell my books. These require completely different personality types, don't they? Silent, focused, shut away, in another world...and then witty, sparkling, elegant and charming among crowds of people.

I'm actually a people person so the second half is easier for me than the first. I find it hard to stay focused. I know I have to write. I know I have 30 pages to complete the book, and yet I'm checking Facebook, blogs, my emails, deciding it would be nice to take a long soak in the tub. I'll get to my writing becuase I force myself but I never want to get started. Once I'm working I keep going until I'm finished for the day, but getting started--my, that's hard.

And on hats--I never was much of a hat person. I have a small head and hats tend to look--well, stupid. But since I've been promoting the Royal Spyness books, I've been wearing a lot of lovely hats. I made the mistake of taking a very regal hat on tour with me last year. It was too big for my suitcase so I had to hand carry it through all those security checks. Learned that lesson. But on this tour I was at Powells Books in Portland (wonderful, wonderful store!) and they had a tower of hats (just what you'd expect to find in a bookstore, right?) Among them were some vintage looking hats. I said jokinly to Michal, the store person, that what I really needed was a cloche hat for my 1930s heroine and he went "Voila!" and there is was--the perfect cloche hat. I'll post pictures when I've had my hair cut. It's too long at the moment.

So back to that writing hat or I won't get my five pages done today.

Best Laid Plans

Today was to be my first day in three weeks with nothing on the calendar. I planned to write, catch up with business stuff and then take a book to the pool. Instead I awoke with swollen glands and a headache. A trip to the doctor and I find out that I have either an infected salivary gland or infected sinus or both. So I'm home on antibiotics and feeling annoyed.

I suppose with all those flights and strange hotels and bookstores I was asking for something--actually it was mega-sales, not an infection. I may look like a hamster for my bookstore event tomorrow. And you can tell how bad I was feeling--I walked past Sephora and Ann Taylor Loft WITHOUT GOING IN.

So I think an afternoon of book therapy is needed. I may just re-read one of the Harry Potters. They have become my escape literature of choice. OR I may re-watch Mama Mia, although I get depressed when Colin Firth turns out to be gay. Do you have a comfort/escape entertainment of choice?

Home Again, Home Again

I'm home. I slept in my own bed last night. Are you as crazy and mixed up as I am? When I'm home I long for adventure and to be traveling. When I'm traveling I long for my own bed at home and leisure to make a cup of tea in my dressing gown and eat grilled cheese.

It was a good tour--a little exhausting as it is flying from one place to the next every day, but I saw so many nice people and reconnected with old friends along the way that it was worth every morning when the car came at 6 a.m. One of the encouraging signs was to see the books well displayed in the Barnes and Nobles--paperbacks always on the front tower and sometimes hardcovers on the new books table. There's hope yet! But the best thing was hearing what the fans said about Lady Georgie. They loved the series and begged me to keep on writing them forever. That makes a writer feel awfully good.

So I look back on my little adventures--the strange bathrooms, the flight from Portland to Seattle in which there were 3 passengers( of which I was one) and two crew. It was a small plane and we flew right by the volcanoes for a most memorable flight (and the hostess joked by asking how I'd like my prime rib cooked). At the other end of the pleasure scale was yesterday's flight that was delayed for 4 hours. Just when I wanted to get home we sat at Burbank airport, only 300 miles from my house, and waited and waited all day. There was only one not-good coffee shop with the most disgusting imitation of a panini for lunch so it was a long day. Left hotel at 9 and wasn't home until 6. I could have gone to London in that time!

So the news of David's death still haunts me but otherwise I had a great time and I'm happy to report that independent bookstores are flourishing! And people are reading. Hooray. Now I'm going to take a long soak in my own, very normal tub with no pictures on the walls.