Campaigning for more votes and explaining myself

So knock me over with a feather, but Brett Kavanaugh is holding her own in Jen's Book Thoughts' amateur sleuth survey. She's made it to round three. Please go vote for her and keep her in the running!

http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/2011/03/sweet-sixteen-worlds-favorite-amateur.html

I have to say that I'm thrilled that she's made it this far. When you're a writer and you spend hours sitting in your little room, your fingers flying across the keyboard, trying to make a story come together, it's really validating to know that a character you've created resonates with people. Brett was not a character I ever thought I'd write, but through the course of four books, I have grown to love her and her world.

I know I've been scarce around these parts lately. I've been writing every day, trying to pull this manuscript into shape. I've discovered that reworking an old manuscript doesn't mean I can merely do a search and replace on names. The whole backstory has changed, the setting has changed (somewhat), the new characters insist on doing things that the old ones had no clue about. And the new ones seems to be a little smarter, too, about how to try to solve this crime.

I have been reading a lot, too. I've spent quite a bit of time reading about Lady Jane Grey, one of those elusive Tudor period people that I hadn't really researched too much before. She and her family were fascinating, and I've discovered that perhaps she wasn't as innocent as she's been portrayed through the years.

I also ordered something online that I've been eyeing for a long time: a slim volume of Henry VIII's love letters to Anne Boleyn. While there are a lot of mystery writers who won't read crime novels while they're writing, I'm not one of them, but I must admit that it's nice to immerse myself in Tudor England after a couple of hours of murder and mayhem.

It's nice to see that it's almost spring (and while technically it is spring, we're having some snow today) and the crocuses and daffodils and tulips are starting to poke their heads through the dirt in the garden. I know the snow won't last, and it will really be spring soon. My SAD days are almost over.

So what have you been up to lately?