Sunday, October 31, 2010

XLI - November 2010

It was a beautiful, busy month here in the mountains. We dug potatoes . . . 
And we got started milking again (a process now almost entirely handled by Justin and Claui who are also dealing with making the butter, yoghurt, and (eventually) cheese.  . . .

And I was on the road, here, there and yon, promoting  The Day of Small Things. Libraries, bookstores, women's groups -- even an orchard on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Heck, if a tractor pull had invited me, I'd have gone. 

The yonmost (if that isn't a word, it should be) was Bouchercon in San Francisco. What an amazing city! I wish I'd had time to see more of it but the convention was the deal. I was on a panel and went to other panels and presentations of various kinds, as well as catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.
And, of course, there was the meeting with Herself. She was non-committal about a sixth Elizabeth Goodweather (as you know, the fifth -- Under the Skin -- will be out next year.) Instead, she encouraged me to come up with another Marshall County standalone and we discussed several ideas.  

I've been happy to hear from readers who loved the Birdie story -- some even liked it better than the Elizabeth books. With any luck, I can do both,

So I'm trying to get my thoughts together to send Herself my ideas and, perhaps because of Halloween, those thoughts have turned to the graveyard where that grave with a playhouse atop it used to be. I see two dolls at a table with a tea set. Mildewed and dusty, spiderwebs stretch between them . . .  What a springboard for a story!  Ideas are swirling like spirits on Halloween night . . .


Maybe by December I'll have something more definite to tell you about my next project.



 For now though, let me share this nice bit of news from the Southern Independent Booksellers bestsellers list (mass market paperback) for the week of October 10      http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/bestsellers

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- Stieg Larsson
2. 61 Hours - Lee Child
3. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
5. Play Dead - Harlan Coben
6. Animal Farm - George Orwell
7. The Day of Small Things - Vicki Lane
8. I, Alex Cross - James Patterson
9. Pursuit of Honor - Vince Flynn
10. Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton

Pretty nifty, huh? And it's because of all of you who went out and bought copies from your local independent bookseller! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

  Notes and Comments
(not many this month -- let us know what books you've enjoyed recently!)

Pat in East TN says - I just finished reading THE KITCHEN HOUSE.  Wonderful book ... probably one of the best I've read in a long time.
 
Vicki Lane -- played hooky from all those mysteries waiting to be read and really enjoyed Geraldine Brooks's March - a story based on the father in Little Women. It also gives an interesting view of the saintly Marmee.  Highly recommended, especially for all of you who loved Little Women -- you'll catch the echoes.

~*~*~*~*~*~
 
 As always, I took a  lot of pictures last month . . .

   Here's a slideshow. Click to enlarge.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vicki, it seems that you burn to create and will write books that will be published. I love your idea of doing more stand alone books. Our mountains contain the bones of wonderful stories that will be the inspiration for you. Deana

Anonymous said...

Books I've recently read and loved:
Eliot Pattison has a series going of a Chinese official banished and imprisoned in Tibet. I've read the first two of the three he's written, "The Skull Mantra" and "Water Touching Stone." Probably even more interesting than the mysteries Inspector Shan Tao Yun solves is all the stuff I learned about modern-day Tibet's tragic occupation by China and also many interesting insights into Tibetan Buddhism.
Deana

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks, Deana -- those sound like interesting reads!

Anonymous said...

I also wanted to say congratulations on having a Top Ten book. That's really exciting!

Deana

Anonymous said...

I loved "The Help" and so did my daughter!. Since my Mom had TB, we had a maid whom we called Edgie. I loved her and her cooking. In the 60ty's, she got a job in a mill.This book helped my explain to my daughter why I am old fashion about some of the things that happen today. For many of us that is the world we were born into. And as the saying goes :When we new better, we did better.