On Ice: Peter's 40th Birthday Celebration

It's time for another birthday celebration story! Having written vignettes about Peter's 38th and 39th birthdays, of course I had to do something for his 40th. This time the story is titled On Ice.

Writing Retreat: 2022

This year for our annual retreat, Silbrith and I met virtually again rather than traveling. Here are some of the highlights:

A Brighter Future

A reader recently asked if it was necessary to read my Crossed Lines and Arkham Files series in order to follow the plots in my Caffrey Conversation stories. The short answer is no. Any key events in the other series are always summarized in the Caffrey Conversation stories so you won't feel like you're missing out.

Chocolate Box 2022: 8 new stories!

The AO3 Chocolate Box authors were revealed today, and now I can finally describe the stories I wrote. This time around I leaned into Original Works, and had a blast inventing new worlds and new characters. In previous years I posted descriptions that included how the stories measured up in terms of diversity, and I'm continuing that tradition again this year.

Here we go, eight new stories!

Bonus Content for the Caffrey Conversation series

Last year I started updating my older stories in the Caffrey Conversation AU, applying edits and adding bonus content. Most recently I've posted bonus chapters for "By the Book" and "Caffrey Envoy," and now I'm adding "Written in the Stars" to the mix, updating what was a stand-alone story to become part of the series. Here are a few insights into what's changing and what I'm adding. 

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.