Friday, May 23, 2014

My Writing Vacation - Or Books I Enjoyed When I Let Myself Read for Fun by Debra H. Goldstein

Many of you know I stepped down from the bench a year ago to give myself the freedom to write during the day.  The results were mixed.  In the beginning, I couldn’t get disciplined enough to do much more than organize my daughter’s wedding, travel, and watch every possible episode of How I Met Your Mother and NCIS. I finally found my writing “legs” and finished a novel that beta readers are now reviewing and wrote and submitted a number of short stories.  Four of them, “A Political Cornucopia,” “Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief!,” “Early Frost,” and the “Rabbi’s Wife Stayed Home,” were published by Bethlehem Writer’s Roundtable (November 2013), Mardi Gras Murder (2014), The Birmingham Arts Journal (April 2014) and Mysterical – E (April 2014), respectively. At the same time, my 2012 IPPY Award winning mystery, Maze in Blue, was re-released by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery as a May 2014 book of the month.

When I received notice that Maze was reissued and the fourth story had been accepted for publication, I
decided to take a two week vacation from writing and rejoin the world of being a reader.  Some of the books I could have done without (diet books – I’ve gained weight since I decided to write), some were simply okay (a biography of Barbra Streisand), but some proved to be pure fun.  One of the exciting things to me, is that many of the books I really enjoyed were written by authors I have met at various conferences and who, in many cases, have written guest blogs for “It’s Not Always a Mystery.”(http://debrahgoldstein.wordpress.com)

For a good suspense read, let me recommend Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Agatha winning The Wrong Girl.  I read her Mary Higgins Clark MWA winning The Other Woman last year and eagerly was awaiting this book.  Then, I picked up the third book in the Skeet Bannon series written by Linda Rodriguez.  Every Hidden Fear was published the week I took my reading vacation, I couldn’t put it down – each book only has hooked me on Skeet since Linda won the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition for Every Last Secret.

I wanted to get a little food and farm reading in so I turned to Edith Maxwell’s A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die which I followed with Leslie Budewitz’s Agatha winning Death al Dente. Food wasn’t my only companion during my reading excursion.  I added a little comedy and romance with Kendel Lynn’s Board Stiff.

Much as I enjoy mysteries, I needed to spice up my life with a few good looking men so my bedtime reading was Robert Wagner’s Pieces of My Heart.  Tonight, I’m snuggling up with Rob Lowe’s book, Love Life.  I plan to read fast because tomorrow I’m giving myself back to writing.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the mention, Debra! Hope you enjoyed TINE. Isn't it great to take some time to read?

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    1. Enjoyed Tine so much, I've already pre-ordered your next book in the series (and plan to take time to read it immediately).

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  2. Well, Debra! You are completely fabulous..thank you! And I am so thrilled you took the enormous (and brave!) step of giving yourself time to write--if not now, when, right? And yay for MAZE IN BLUE--book of the month! xxoo

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    1. Appreciate you stopping by ... always admire how much YOU do. Loved your books and can't wait for the new one in the series that is due out in the fall.

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  3. Thank you, Debra! Once we start writing, it becomes ever more important -- and more challenging -- to find the time to read the kind of books that inspired us to write in the first place. I'm delighted you included me in your reading break -- and so sorry if it contributed to the weight gain!

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    1. I've always loved pasta :)......and anything else that is edible. Looking forward to the continuation of this series and your upcoming new series. Referencing Hank's comments above....admire the fact that you now are writing two separate series!!!!! Don't forget to take a reading sanity break every now and then.

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  4. Debra, thank you for including me on you reading vacation! What a beautiful idea, two weeks of reading for pleasure. I shall plot my own for this summer!

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    1. Kendel, thanks for stopping by. I hope you do plot out some reading time this summer - it is a wonderful way to recharge your batteries. Speaking of plot, I enjoyed Board Stiff!

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