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My first mystery comes out in the next cycle of the Heartsong Presents Mysteries bookclub. I'm excited to hear what readers and reviewers have to say about it. Karen Maxwell (the heroine) is becoming a good friend and I'm enjoying working with her! The book was featured on Spyglass Lane, the official blog of the HP Mysteries on Monday, June 30. Since I get plenty of space here to write about myself, I decided to let one of my characters tell his story on the blog. So you get the perspective of Evan Maxwell, Karen's nine-year-old son. To see what he has to say about having an investigator in the family, click here.

Soon I expect to start on the edits for the second book, Worth Its Weight in Old and begin writing the third book in the series. It has been a lot of fun to write!

To find out more about Heartsong Presents Mysteries, click here.

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Headers
by
Henry thor Straten

Photograph
by
Stephen Purcell

Working on my second mystery in the Karen Maxwell series, I felt unjustifiably relieved when I finished the first draft and moved on to the editing and rewriting phase. I say unjustifiably because there was no reason whatsoever for me to feel relieved. Writing the first draft is actually the easy part. It’s the revision that’s really tough.

I don’t mind changing words, though sometimes that can be a bit tedious. The real problem I have is with changing the story. I seem to have this sort of Pontius Pilate attitude toward my creation:  What I have written, I have written. That’s the way it happened. I can’t imagine what would happen if Karen went on a date in the second scene because that didn’t happen. At least not in my mind. And what I have a hard time remembering is that it is all in my mind. It’s all fiction. It can change.

I guess it seems to me that trying to change what happened in the story (after I’ve written a first draft) is like trying to change what has already happened in my own past. What I need to see is that it’s really more like trying to change my future - something that may be difficult, but which is certainly within my control. For example, I have a nasty temper that is likely to flare up at any time. I can’t erase the angry outbursts of the past. But I can control the ones waiting to erupt later on today. Is it easy? No. If it was, I wouldn’t have so many angry outbursts in my past.

I can change my characters’ lives just as I can change my own, with a lot of effort. And I know I need something more—I need to ask for help from God. If I ask for help, I get it. I just keep forgetting to ask. So here I am, not only asking God to guide my writing, but also asking him to help me to remember to ask him to guide my writing.

And everything else in my life.

Watch for a new "Life Beyond the Lunchboxes" each month. You can read previous columns by clicking here.

September 19
Seventh grade officially sucks. The teachers treat us like kids. They might cancel drama club this year. And I think my brother is reading this so I'm afraid to really write anything.

September 24
Mom has a new job. Well, it's the same job she's always had, but she's doing different work. She gets to investigate a case instead of just doing paperwork all the time. I'm really happy for her. Things haven't been easy since Dad left, but she's doing a really good job.

September 28
She's the worst mom ever. She's making us go back to this really boring history house so we can learn more about boring history. (And Evan, I don't care if you read this and tell her because you said the same thing yourself.)

October 1
The boring history house wasn't too bad because there are lots of actors there and we get to dress up and act out parts in front of tourists. I think mom asked one of the other actors on a date. She said its not really a date, but I can tell (it was in the July issue of Teen Life Magazine "How to Tell if it's Really a Date")

Alicia is the daughter of Karen Maxwell of DS Investigations. New pages from her diary will appear here whenever she leaves it lying open.