A Throwback Holiday Treat

This year my holiday story is "Henry Takes a Holiday." When Silbrith and I played bunnyball with the concept during this summer's writing retreat, we envisioned a light-hearted caper with references to an old TV show: Remington Steele. 

Caffrey Conversation and the Heroine's Journey

Recently I attended author Gail Carriger's class about the Heroine's Journey. In the class she gave an example of a show that began as a Heroine's Journey, and how viewers felt betrayed when it changed into a Hero's Journey. That was a lightbulb moment for me regarding my feelings about White Collar. My final dissatisfaction with the show ties into the fact that the first few seasons had given me an expectation that wasn't delivered in the final seasons. That dissatisfaction drove the direction I took with the Caffrey Conversation series.

Found Families

The found family relationship in White Collar is generally acknowledged to be one of the most appealing aspects of the TV series. In the world of Caffrey Conversation, Penna and I super-sized it.

Witches and Demons

Halloween is still several weeks away, but any holiday featuring black cats, owls, bats, witches, vampires, and ghosts deserves a month-long celebration, at least in my household. This year to mark the occasion, I'm revisiting my Crossed Lines stories.

A Fresh Take on Complications

Complications was the first story I wrote for Caffrey Conversation. This summer I decided to revisit it, placing it more in the context of the stories immediately preceding and following it. Several characters waved their hands to be in the refresh, including Henry, Tricia, Mozzie, and Noelle. A few other characters you'll recognize snuck aboard too.

Angst ahead: The James Bennett/evidence box arc meets the Caffrey Conversation AU

One of the most common questions I receive about our AU is when (or if) we'll tackle the James Bennett/evidence box arc from canon. It took multiple years of planning and working up our nerve, and it's finally here! I'm posting the 14 chapters of Full Circle in September and October.

July 2021 Writing Projects: Camp NaNoWriMo

Penna and I both participated in Camp NaNoWriMo in July. Penna planned to work on Full Circle, a Caffrey Conversation story featuring Neal's father and the infamous evidence box from canon. My project was to finish the first draft of Foxy, my nickname for the second novel in the Sedlow Chronicles series. We've dismantled our camp tents now, and I'm happy to report we both met our goals.

June Writing Projects: Retreat in Pride Month

The writing highlight of June—scratch that, of the year—was Penna's and my annual writing retreat. Five glorious days of plotting stories and exchanging ideas. This year was particularly meaningful since we'd been forced to postpone our trip because of the pandemic. Originally, we'd planned to scheme about Angela's wedding which was held at our retreat destination of San Juan Island. The year's delay meant that instead we were visiting sites mentioned in Penna's now-finished story Lavender Dreams. It was a thrill for me to see the places Penna had described so beautifully in her story.

Writing retreat: 2021

Last week Silbrith and I went to San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest for our annual writing retreat. We visited settings from Lavender Dreams, ate a lot of seafood, and did our usual plot daydreaming.

May 2021: Writing Projects

Camp NaNoWriMo is now a wrap and along with it my first draft of the Caffrey Conversation story Set in Amber. Camp turned into an unexpected adventure. I'd signed up, fully expecting to write a complex, international con. Aim for the sky, right? But somewhere around the third night, several characters crashed my neatly arranged tent and transformed it into a pirate ship. I was given two choices—write the kind of story they wanted or walk the plank. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with an outline. But over mugs of grog, their faces streaked with melted chocolate from s'mores, the pirate crew insisted that writing an outline was the best way for them to pounce on an idea and hijack it. Is that a good thing? It's certainly more fun. Readers will have a chance to judge the results for themselves next spring.

Caffrey Conversation Revisited

Eight years ago I was in the middle of writing Caffrey Conversation, with no idea it would spawn an entire AU series. Now I'm about to post an additional chapter of bonus content to thank the many readers who have made my day over the years by leaving kudos and comments for the series and for this story in particular.

Tag, You're It

I plan to publish Sedlow Chronicles on Wattpad in addition to FictionPress. Wattpad in particular encourages the use of tags. Any and all one-word descriptors are allowed. Over the past few weeks, my characters and I have enjoyed playing a game of tag over which ones to use. Here's a sneak peek at our list to date:

April 2021: Writing Projects

The arrival of April means that it's once again time for Camp NaNoWriMo. Last year, my camp project was writing the first draft of Dawn of the Jackalopes in the Crossed Lines series. It was published last month. This year my project is Set in Amber, a Caffrey Conversation story. With amber in the title, some of you may wonder if it has anything to do with a certain music box. That's a canon element we haven't touched on yet. Has its moment finally come? The story is set in late 2006, roughly 3 years after the start of Caffrey Conversation. Penna and I have let the characters evolve over the years onto different paths. One question that has been much on my mind lately is what the future paths should be for Raquel and Alex. Perhaps writing this story will help answer it.

Sedlow Chronicles Backdrop

Many of the characters in my other series made a strong case for my fledgling original series to be set in New York City. And I admit to being tempted. But this was my chance to create a city that so far had existed only in my imagination. I could plunk Sedlow down in whatever state I liked, design the architecture, create its history and features. Who could resist a lure like that? I settled on a happy compromise. New York City is close to my new city, and it has already been slated as a location for future scenes.

Sedlow Chronicles: Meet Gwynn Tully

When I started to conceptualize Sedlow Chronicles, I began with the main character. I knew I wanted a female lead. Diana had been advocating for a woman for a long time. She pointed out that in my five other series, only one (Tales from the Library) features a female lead—a gross imbalance badly in need of adjustment.

Sedlow Chronicles: A New Series

For both reading and writing, I'm particularly attracted to stories that are part of a series. The reason is simple. If I like characters enough to want to spend time with them, I'd rather not say goodbye after one novel. So far I've written five fanfic series—one in partnership with Penna and four solo series. It's been an evolving process. Arkham Files and Crossed Lines are both spin-offs of Caffrey Conversation. With Tales from the Library and Six-Crossed Knot, I ventured into other fandoms.

Chocolate Box 2021

This year I wrote two stories for the AO3 Chocolate Box challenge. One of them is a crossover, so I covered three fandoms. As I did last year, I'll describe the stories and include notes about diversity and the Bechdel test.

February 2021 Writing Projects

February was a month that made me glad I could take writing breaks. Winter storms knocked out our power and water for several days. It was getting to the point that I seriously considered writing my current draft in longhand, and anyone who has seen my handwriting knows what a sacrifice that would have been. Despite the challenges of the month, I made progress on several fronts.

The Year of the Cat

The arrival of a new year has a special significance for Penna and me. It means we can feature a new animal! We've designated 2021 to be the Year of the Cat for our upcoming writing adventures. I'd started the tradition of associating our writing with an animal two years ago in honor of Penna's birthday which occurs in mid-January. The initial idea was to sneak references into my stories as Easter eggs for Penna. Penguins are one of her favorite animals so 2019 was the Year of the Penguin. Penguins popped in as Christmas ornaments and dancers. The penguin analogies in the stories I posted that year were all waving at her. I was thrilled when Penna joined in the fun by writing one of my all-time favorite Chocolate Box treats, Bah, Humboldt. The White Collar Psych crossover features a Humboldt penguin named Pilar.