The Payoff for Patience

Here’s a little story about a bigger story: A few years ago, I moved to Dallas, Texas, in order to take a teaching job at a prestigious school. Although I met lovely people there, I deeply missed family and friends back in the Land of the Great Lakes. During my time in Dallas, death claimed someone very near to my heart. A combination of homesickness and grief led me back north, where I intended to resume my fiction writing career. However, my original publisher had made a decision not to continue the Whiskey Mattimoe series.

Then I found a new publisher, Martin Brown/Ampichellis. Together we are extremely pleased to present Book #6 in the humorous Whiskey Mattimoe mystery series starring Abra the Afghan hound, the original Bad Girl of Dog Fiction. The new book, Whiskey and Soda, is due out in both trade paperback and ebook formats at the end of May 2012.

For more information about the new book and insights into the series, I urge you to check my Whiskey Mattimoe blog and/or my Amazon Author Central Page. The bottom line: Abra is coming back, and she’s in more trouble than ever. So is Whiskey, her reluctant “owner.”

Their madcap misadventures continue in Magnet Springs, Michigan, with friends and felons both new and familiar. I urge you to read it. And I sincerely thank my readers for letting me know they wanted more Whiskey. Cheers!

So You Think You Can Write? Then Let's Get Started!

If you live or work near Chicagoland this coming weekend, and you want to be a writer, come on over!

I'm conducting a workshop to ignite your creativity and motivation.

Date: Saturday, July 10, 2010

Time: 10-11:30 a.m.

Place: Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division Street, 8th Floor, Elgin, IL

Reason: I like to share. Plus, I'm in town for staged readings of my new play. More about that below.

Do you have a story to tell but don’t know how or where to begin?

Do you wish you could find time in your busy life to write?

Have you started a novel or other writing project and then lost your momentum?

Have you promised yourself that someday you’re going to write a book?

When? How?

Let me show you the way. I'm a novelist and playwright, and I know all about the forces that can keep you from writing . . . and how to defeat them.

My workshop will teach you how to launch, plan, and complete your writing project—no matter what.

If you long to express yourself in writing, I can help you make your creative dream come true.

My 90-minute workshop will get you past whatever hurdles are holding you back. Whether you lack ideas, experience, confidence or time, I offer the tools you need.

Bring a laptop computer or pen and paper—and your desire to write.

For more information, contact Grady_S@cityofelgin.org

Check out the cool City of Elgin page. And as long as you're in town, you might as well stick around for the free staged reading of my latest play, On My Boyfriends' Bicycles. See the blog entry below for details about that. I'd really love to meet you.