Before we get started, we’d like to announce the lucky winner of Edith Maxwell’s Local Foods mystery, MULCH ADO ABOUT MURDER. Congratulations to Marie McNary — and happy reading!
Next week marks the official start of summer, and the Chicks have got big plans! We’ll all be writing or doing writing-related activities, of course — in between summer vacations, trips to the pool, ice cream binges, and family time. Read on to find out what we’re looking forward to this summer!
I’m not sure summer is entirely here yet in New Hampshire. But the hero dragonflies just arrived, so that’s a good sign (for us, but not the black flies and mosquitoes—adios, guys!). I’m looking forward to a trip to New York (aka The City) next month for a wedding and the general cool factor (not talking about the weather—most people avoid the steaming Apple in July). I’m also looking forward to a big family reunion, which we haven’t held in about twenty years. And in the meantime…I’m WRITING, folks! Like, for real. Camp Nanowrimo opens July 1 and my trunk is P-A-C-K-E-D. Fellow Chick Cynthia and I are cabinmates and we promise to write you all postcards during Rest Hour. (It’s sort of required anyway.)
Marla Cooper
What am I looking forward to this summer? ROADTRIP! I’m driving from Vermont to Texas in July with one of my best friends in the whole world, who will have just finished a summer residence at Vermont College of Fine Arts. (He got his MFA in Young Adult fiction, and there’s an alternate universe where he’s David Levithan and I’m Rachel Cohn and we co-write wildly popular YA novels together.) We’re still planning where we’re going to stop along the way, but it’s sure to involve a heady blend of small towns, photo ops, long conversations (plotting world domination?), junk food, and laughter.
Vickie Fee
This summer I’m looking forward to—the weather! The winters here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are long, but the short summers are glorious, with highs mostly in the 70s. Eighty is a hot day for us. I plan to enjoy some lazy days in a beach chair on the shore of Lake Superior—reading cozies, of course! I’m also looking forward to my first book tour—hubs and I hit the road today. I’ll be doing joint events with some great cozy authors and will have a chance to visit with family and friends along the way. The only downside is that the mercury will be rising as I travel southward.
Cynthia Kuhn
This summer, my boys have submitted an agenda of pool visits, bike rides, soccer games, and other outdoorsy goodness. I’m also teaching a creative writing class and working on Lila #3 plus some other projects. If we can get ourselves together, we might try to move because we’re bursting out of our little house. But adding one more thing to the schedule seems almost unimaginable…especially a thing like moving!
Kellye Garrett
When I was a kid, I obviously couldn’t wait for summer. As an adult? Not so much. It’s soooooo hot and sticky and mean to my hair. With a book coming out in 53 days—not that I’m counting or anything—and Detective by Day 2 due in a couple of weeks, Of course, I’m excited for Hollywood Homicide to be released on August 8. But I also know I’ll be looking forward to the quiet moments the most. My baths. My time with my family. My sleep—because I doubt I will be getting much.
Ellen Byron
My summer travel plans involve much mooching. Next week, we travel with friends to their vacation home in Tahoe Donner where we’ll make ourselves at home on their dime. (Semi-kidding. Yes, housing is free, but we buy thank-you meals and groceries.) Then in mid-August, we travel to the East Coast for a battery of college tours for our rising senior and to make that trip affordable, we spend most of it crashing with my mom in NY and borrowing her car to travel throughout the tri-state area. (We’re also using her Sheraton points for the two nights of hotel we need. See? Mooching.) Other exciting plans involving trying to postpone jury duty, finishing up the fourth book in my series so I can turn it in Sept.1 at the latest, and spending a fortune to replace our AC/heating unit that caught fire three weeks ago. Good times.
Readers, it’s your turn! What are you up to this summer?
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Chicks on the Case 
Congrats Marie McNary!
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I hate summer! Too hot! I love air conditioning!
I will be doing camp Nanowrimo as well, editing my second novel, using Margie Lawson’s edit techniques class I just took last week.
I am also trying to find an agent by querying my first novel.
Plus doing my real job.
And get back to my blogging. I need to do a few small decorating projects this summer, and am thinking about restaining my bookshelves darker to make them pop.
I want to try 3 new recipes this summer.
And I can’t forget to breathe!
FYI, I have a nice PDF of my vision of what camp Nanowrimo looks like, if anyone is interested. Just let me know and I can email it. Feel free to post it here if you like it. It’s my creation, so there’s no rights issue involved.
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Sounds like you’re going to have a really productive summer! (But don’t forget to take time to stop and eat ice cream!) I’d love to see your PDF — you can email me at marlacooperauthor @ gmail. Thanks!!
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I’d love to see it, too. I’m at ellenbyronla (at) outlook (dot) com.
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I’m in the middle of 3 mud runs in 3 weekends, which is always fun. And next month, I’m taking a couple of days off and meeting up with friends in New Orleans. I know, wrong time of the year to visit, but I’ve never been so I’m still super excited.
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Both those things sound awesome, Mark! Here’s to not letting a little mud and heat stand in the way of your summer fun!
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We have plenty of mud out here, Mark! You need to do a mudder road trip.
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Inquiring minds need to know. Mud run?
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A mud run is a run that includes obstacles, some of which are mud pits you have to walk through or crawl through. They really are a lot of fun.
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Mark, you have to talk to me before you go!! Laissez les bon temps rouler!
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Ahh! Military memories. Or should I say nightmares. Just kidding. Had no problems serving. It was the uniform in the obstacle course that killed me. Sounds like a blast.
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They are a blast. Of course, I don’t have to do them in uniform, which helps.
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Robin and I are going on a road trip to Seattle and back, mooching (like Ellen) off friends and family–but I will likely do a lot of the cooking! AND we get to take our pooch, Ziggy, and she LOVES to ride in the car!
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I love a good roadtrip! We need to get together this summer!
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Absolutely!
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I want you to cook for me someday, Leslie!!
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Small towns? Junk food? Marla, I hope your travels from VT will involve a stop in my neck of the woods (and it IS wooded). And safe travels, Vickie! We’re expecting plenty of notes and pix from the road.
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I’ll just be one tiny state over! Want to meet for lunch in Lebanon?
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This all sounds wonderful–have a great summer, everyone!
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My main goal this summer? FINISH MY BOOK.
No vacation plans, but lots of writing-related events. I’m attending the Chicago Writing Workshop next week to pitch to a few agents (eek!) and I’ll also be at the Writer’s Police Academy in August.
Also, I’m so glad summer is here. I’ll take the heat over the cold any day, and I love being able to wear dresses and sandals again. Humidity, however…not a fan. Leaves me feeling gross and jacks up my hair. But you gotta take the good with the bad, and summer in Chicago is glorious, so I’ll deal.
P.S. Vickie, pretty sure you’re doing an event at the Oak Park library today, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to meet you ^^
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You got this Mia! Pitch like mad!
Writers police academy? Can I say jealous?
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Cool, Mia!! Sounds like you’ve got lots of exciting plans! (Also: did you meet Vickie?)
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Yes, I did! She was so nice and had great things to say about all of you. I just wish I had remembered to bring cash since I’ve been meaning to check out her books for a while. Guess I’ll have to order her books online and hope she can sign them sometime in the future ^^
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Good luck with the pitches, Mia! (Though you don’t need luck–you’re going to shine.)
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