Interesting Writing Challenges

I am at work on the next cozy and I do expect it’ll be out sooner rather than later. My goal is in about another month, but I don’t like to set hard deadlines because life happens.

For example, last week I took four days off for a last-minute trip to visit a very close friend I hadn’t seen in forever who happens to be dealing with some very serious health issues. We were at the point I felt I had to go even though this has been going on for a couple years now.

Hopefully I was wildly pessimistic about where things stand and I’ll be able to see them again next year, too, but that kind of thing tends to occur in life and you have to make room for it when it does.

Of course the delay ended up being more than just those four days because when I came home and sat down to write on Sunday I wasn’t in that mental space I need to be to write a cozy. For me cozies are fun and quirky and light-hearted. Yeah, sure, someone’s dead but really it’s about how much I love my dog and my friends and my family and cute cops.

So the last two days I found myself writing a story that was most definitely dark. It was an idea I’d toyed with for years but now seemed to be the moment to finish it. Interestingly it’s not related to illness in any way, but it draws from that same deep dark well.

And I had to purge those dark feelings before I could legitimately turn back to the cozy and make it the fun escape it needs to be.

The other interesting writing challenge I’ve been facing (and I faced it with the last book, too) is that it’s winter here in Colorado. Yesterday we had something they decided to call a bomb cyclone which for me involved lots of icy snow. But in the books it’s currently summertime. So I can’t just look out my window for inspiration. And all the wintry story ideas I get (because a Newfie in snow is a sight to behold) have to be set aside for later books.

It’s not a big challenge but it is an interesting one because I have to keep an eye out to make sure my summer story doesn’t start getting too wintry.

Anyway. Thought I’d share. Hope you’re liking the two existing cozies and there will be a third soon.