I take my writing and deadlines very seriously. That’s why I didn’t even have time to peck out a real post on Friday, while I was busy trying make my Oct. 1 deadline for everything.

This week has been tough. I’ve been accused of being too stoned or stupid or uncaring to listen to people who won’t be named. But I’ve been thinking about writing and deadlines and blogging in my head.

Not to mention the actual doing.

Anyway, I made my deadline for everything. And my point — and there is one — is that real writers show up and get the job done, no matter what.

So … with that, here are a few things from around the Web that I thought I’d share:

Where in the world is VI Warshawski?

The awesome Sara Paretsky.

Thank you, Sara Paretsky! Every time Sam gets the crap beaten out of her, I think of poor old V.I. Warshawski. :)

And look what Maryland novelist’s book is coming to the silver screen! Awesome! :)

Furthermore, as an indie author, I want to say thanks SO much to C.D. Reimer for his post, I’m NOT joining Amazon’s KDP Select Program.

I even went so far as to favorite his tweet about it.

And thank you, Mark Coker, for doing all the typing making the arguments in this article that I’ve trying to make forever for quite a while.

Hurray for Smashwords! My offer to be a spokesperson still stands.

Even though, admittedly, my sales through Smashwords, like many authors, haven’t been as awesome as Reimer’s. I don’t believe, in principle, in letting Amazon call the shots. By doing so, aren’t we all kidding ourselves?

Now, here’s a lady whose perspective on the whole thing makes complete sense to me. :)

The awesome JK Rowling

BTW, do any of these ad icons look familiar? ;) Hmm?


I couldn’t stop laughing when I read this post. Thank you to The Bloggess!

So … from today’s Sunday paper:

This is the way everyone should do business.

Long lost James M. Cain novel published. A must-read for fans of noir!!!!

Caption that! :)

One more game, and the Nats clinch it!

Was this the most surreal grand slam ever or what?

Now, when a life-long Cubs fan can make this confession, you can understand how baseball karma demands that the Nats go the distance.

BTW, while I was doing the teaser on Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar last night, I saw a link to this article. This reminded me that I failed to hit Northern Ireland while I was on vacation across the pond. And I’d kind of hoped I’d be able to meet the amazing Stuart Neville on his own turf, as it were.

I met him briefly at Bouchercon last year. Maybe he’ll be there this year. If he is, I hope I’m not too tired gimpy overwhelmed happy to walk up and say hi to him. And tell him how much I loved THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST. Which I finally read!

PS: If you would, please check out my campaign for the Sam McRae Mystery Series project. I hope this will benefit readers, retailers, libraries and authors, in the long run.

So, in conclusion, here’s a tune Paul posted somewhere on his blog. Let’s do the wang dang doodle!

And here’s a quote for you:

“Mussolini never killed anyone, he just sent dissenters abroad for vacation.”

Silvio Berlusconi born 29 September 1936

PPS: If nothing else, check out Prickly City.