Odelia Looks Ahead

The 7th Odelia Grey Novel
Coming September 2012

Two weeks ago I turned into my editor at Midnight Ink the manuscript for my 7th Odelia Grey novel, making Hide and Snoop my 12th completed and contracted novel overall.  Quite a milestone when I look back and remember my telephone conversation with the big name NY agent I had when I completed Too Big to Miss, my first Odelia Grey novel. 

Not to name names, but she called it "prurient" and said, "No one wants to read this crap!" She also went on to say she would be embarrassed to represent it. Oh yes, she did!  I fired her ass within the week. And she, not to be outdone, sent me a nasty letter saying she wished me well, but that I would, in the end, discover she was right.  I still have that letter.

After trying a few more agents and receiving rejections for the same book (but without the nastiness), I became crestfallen and wondered if Agent #1 was right. The thing is, my friends thought she was wrong.  With their support, I turned to self-publishing and brought out Too Big To Miss and The Curse of the Holy Pail. Both became moderately successful and, remember, this was long before e-books and social media existed to push sales. Determined to get the Odelia story out to even more readers, I found my current agent, who found me a place at Midnight Ink.  Eight years later, Agent #2 and I are still together and we have since sold Midnight Ink a total of 12 Odelia Grey novels, 3 Ghost of Granny Apples novels, and 2 vampire mystery novels.  But wait, there's more! Recently, Agent #2 went on to sell Berkley 2 more Ghost of Granny Apples novels and we're also talking a novella.

I swear, if I wrote a grocery list on the back of a sanitary napkin, Agent #2 would find a way to sell it.

The 1st Odelia Novel

Currently, I'm working on the 8th Odelia Grey novel. It doesn't have a working title yet, but I'm excited about the fun plot I have in mind. My goal is to have it done by the 4th of July. Then I'll move on to the Granny novella and the 4th Granny Apples book, both of which will go to Berkley, with a short story or two thrown in for the fun of it. My writing schedule for the year is spelled out for me as easy as A, B, C and should be a piece of cake if life remains fairly uncomplicated.

I'm very excited about the 5 remaining Odelia Grey novels. I already know the plot lines for books 8, 9 and 12, with vague ideas for the remaining 2. Already, folks are asking if Odelia will continue past book 12. Honestly, I have no idea, but book 12 should be finished about the time I'm thinking about retiring from my day job, so maybe Odelia will retire, too. Not the books, but IN the books.  We'll just have to see.

On other fronts, today is my turn at Criminal Minds and I'm tackling the Proust Questionnaire. Drop on by and see how I stacked up to the French novelist Marcel Proust when he was a mere 13 years old.  Strange, I never thought I'd have anything in common with a 13-yr-old boy, French or otherwise, especially one who died 30 years before I was born. Then again, we're both writers with a nice size body of work.