"Snow Day": Perfect for Writing!

Last night's steady "flurries" gave us about four inches of snow by morning, and long before I got out in it, the deer had tracked all around the front and back yards, "pruning" the apple trees again. Darn! Well, I'll put up more fencing on Monday, after the weekend rain clears the ground.

Meanwhile, it was a perfect Snow Day. After routine morning chores (getting the papers for my husband, for example) and a happy-booted walk up on the ridge, I reached the desk, happy to escape to the three writing projects underway. Three!! Well, part of this past few weeks of silence has been spent in research and thinking, and I knew where each one was meant to go.

And now it's suppertime, but I've had a perfect writing session. PUNCH, the sequel to The Secret Room, is well underway, with chapter 1 expanded and ramped up to the tension that I wanted in it: http://www.wattpad.com/8080389-punch-a-vermont-mystery. (If you live in northern New England, you'll recognize the friction that "four wheelers" evoke in the community, as Shawna and Thea face the first day of school -- under circumstances that distress them both.)

Second, the new book CHARLIE'S PLACE is off to a great start -- again, chapter 1, but this chapter reflects a 3-hour planning session with co-author Sue Tester, as well as 10 days of wrestling for the perfect words and images. I can't share that one yet, but I'm very, very excited about it.

Third is the new chapter -- chapter 28! -- of ALL THAT GLITTERS, a chapter that's confusing and stressful and part of the turning point of the book, as it's going to explode in two kinds of risky behavior within the next two chapters. Teen sleuth Felicity "Lucky" Franklin is in deeper than she knows ... thank goodness Michelle and Sandy are there with her. And a few other friends, too. Click here to start reading.

What's left for the day? Book reviews, of course! Watch the Kingdom Books review site this evening. I've got a lot to talk about -- and hope you'll join some of the conversations that these trigger.

PS -- EVENT COMING UP for COLD MIDNIGHT: Sat. Dec. 8, 10 a.m., at the Davies Memorial Library in Waterford, Vermont, I'll be talking about the Northeast Kingdom in 1921 and sharing photos and research that lie behind the unsolved "real" murder in the novel. Hope you can join us. If you can't, you can still order a signed copy at www.BethKanell.com (or pick up the book or e-books at local Vermont shops or online).