Bridge to Magic

The good news is that my editor read my manuscript for the 3rd THE SEER, WITCH BALL, and she loved it. Big relief! When I turned in the 2nd THE SEER, she wasn't excited at first and I had to do a lot of revisions. The revisions really improved the story and readers should really love all the magic, ghosts and romance when it comes out in June.

Now back to writing the STRANGE ENCOUNTERS series....
I've started to write the 4th book. My title (unless the publisher changes it) will be GHOST BRIDGE.

Here's how I describe the book:
A bridge to magic blasts Cassie back in time – to the 1970’s!
London Bridge is falling down again--and Cassie Strange is swept up in a magical mystery involving a bunny, a missing girl and TIME TRAVEL!

Here's the opening line so far:
When I saw the purple envelope, I knew something exciting was going to happen.

I only have six pages written, but it's a good start.

As I type this morning, my lovely white cat Lily is curled and purring on my lap. There's a picture of her on my website www.LindaJoySingleton.com if you jump around to find the "Linda Facts" link.

Well I'm off in a few hours to enjoy sun, surf and WRITERS. I'm going to a writing conference near Monterey where I'll listen to talks from editors, agents and famous mystery author Nancy Werlin. Her books BLACK MIRROR and DOUBLE HELIX are great!

Sisters In Crime and Fairsite School

I'm going to a Sisters-In-Crime meeting this afternoon. I've been reading mysteries since my first Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew as a kid, and continue to love this genre. The Sacramento Sisters-In-Crime group is great and we've had some fantastic speakers, like detectives, crime scene investigators, fire inspectors and many authors (including me). Today we're going to talk about publishing and submitting manuscripts.

Yesterday I spoke at Fairsite School in Galt to 4th graders about the writing contest I'm judging. This will be my 10th year with this contest, and this year my co-judge is Dana K. Smith who has a wonderful picture book out from Hyperion about a boy pretending to be a cowboy. She spoke to 3rd graders and read them an advance copy of her next book with the same little boy blasting off into space. Afterwards Dana, her daughter Olivia, the librarian Mrs. Sweeny and I went out to lunch.

One of the questions the kids asked during the Q&A was, "What's it like to be an author?"
The answer is, "Fun!"

FREE DRAGONFLY SCREEN SAVER!!

I checked out my publisher Llewellyn's Tween-Teen page and was pleased tofind they're offering free screen savers from book covers - - including the cover for my book DON'T DIE DRAGONFLY. I downloaded and now have my own shimmery purple cover as a screensaver. What fun for an author!!

Also there's an article I wrote called HOLLYWOOD SEES GHOSTS -- part promotion, part speculation about trends on TV and in books. Anyone curious can check it out at: http://teen.llewellyn.com/

Valentine's Day Contest Winner

Congratulations to Kim C. for being chosen to win one of my books in my tri-annual website contest. Thanks to the others who entered, and be sure to enter again as a new contest starts now.

Arizona and Oedipus

Things have been busy lately.

Last week I spoke to a great school in Arizona called Topock Elementary.

After an introduction from the Principal and a teacher named Angel, I started off with overhead pictures for about 25 minutes, then showed stories I wrote as a kid and answered questions. I talked about the upcoming #3 Strange Encounters, SEA SWITCH, and showed the class a rough sketch of the future book cover. Then I read the chapter where Cassie meets a mermaid. Afterwards, I signed books, answered more questions and talked to four more classes. I had a great time!!

Then a few days ago I went to college with my son Andy. He had a part in a "reader's theater" of the Greek tragedy Oedipus (a really gruesome, sad story). Soon the teacher announced that their "Star" who played Oedipus wasn't there. Next thing I know, my son is taking that part and reading it with great dramatic ability. After about 20 minutes, the "Star" showed up, so my son switched back to his regular role. I was really proud of Andy.

MOOD: Itchy cause I have an allergic reaction to scorpion weed (like poison oak)
BOOK I JUST READ: See You Down the Road by Kim Ablon Whitney
BOOK I'LL READ NEXT: Eragon by Christopher Paolini