New Writing Project

After my next two books come out this year — Paradise Court, a pickleball mystery in May (a sequel to Court Trouble), and The Front Wing, a paranormal geezer-lit mystery in October (a sequel to The Back Wing), my next writing project is a trilogy set in a fictional town, Omnipodge, along the central coast of California.

This trilogy will feature a geezer-lit mystery, The Last Gasp Motel, a spoof on the detective genre, Old Detectives Home, and a spoof on the cozy genre, A Mystery Yarn.

Stay tuned.

Early Readers

Many of my author friends have been writing since an early age. Likewise, many of them were avid readers from an early age. Unfortunately, there are many children, often boys, who aren’t that enthusiastic about reading. I was one of them. Here’s my story.

In elementary school we went to the school library at least once a week. I wasn’t very interested in reading, so I’d goof around during that time. One day the librarian approached me and asked what I was interested in. That was an easy question. “Baseball,” I answered. She motioned me over to a section of books that had baseball stories. That’s how I got hooked on reading.

I am thankful for librarians with the insight to guide children to areas of interest for reading.

 

Panels at the Left Coast Crime Conference in March

The Left Coast Crime Conference will be held in Vancouver March 28 – 31. I will be on two panels. The first is The Thriller Panel at 10:15 on Friday, moderated by Kris Calvin and including panelists Puja Guha, Glen Erik Hamilton and S. J. Rozan, a terrific group. The second is a panel on Writing in More than One Genre at 1:30 on Friday, moderated by Heather Ash with panelists Shelly Adina, Laura Benedict and C. J. Carmichael, another outstanding group of authors.

I will be busy that Friday, because I also moderate The Meet the New Author Breakfast as 7:30. Currently, we have seventeen new authors who will be introduced at the breakfast. They will each give a one minute presentation on the most important thing readers should know about their debut novel.

Medical Insurance

As a Medicare recipient for the last nine years, I’m appreciative of what it provides. With the current debate about Medicare-for-all I think this topic is worth discussion. If we ignore the rants from the far right that it would be a disaster, cost too much and put private insurance companies out of business and rants from the far left that we don’t need to worry about how to pay for it, let’s as a country explore ways to improve medical coverage. First of all, I pay for Medicare in five ways: 1. I made payroll deductions for the thirty-nine years I worked. This provided me with Part A (hospital insurance) when I turned sixty-five. Without paying into the system, I could have still purchased Part A through monthly payments. 2. I pay a monthly fee for Part B (medical insurance). 3. I pay a monthly fee for supplemental insurance through a private insurance company. 4. I pay a monthly fee for Part D (drug coverage) to a private insurance company, 5. For things not covered, I pay directly when billed by medical providers. No one is giving me anything for free. I think this model is worth exploring for covering younger people. The discussion needs to include how to pay for it.