Chick Chat

WIPs and RIPs

Welcome to our new Chick Chat series: WIPs & RIPs, a bookish report of what we’re writing (a.k.a. Works In Progress), what we’re reading (i.e. Reads in Progress), and which projects we’re bidding a fond Rest in Peace. Read on, then chime in to tell us what’s occupying your WIP & RIP lists.

Lisa Q. Mathews

Yikes, our second installment of WIPs & RIPs sure came up fast! I have my office set up on the 3-season porch, where I’m trying hard to balance worrying over next month’s launch of THE JIG IS UP (yes, I am a mess, thanks very much for asking) and writing Book 2. The ms. is due by summer’s end, so double the fun. Looks as if the title is now BURIED IN SHAMROCKS, and I’ve seen the cover sketch, so things are getting real. At the moment I am Buried in Words, trying to throw my poor sleuth more curveballs than all the Red Sox pitchers combined. We didn’t get an all-star break, so we’re both having a rough go of things, lol.

At night I alternate between a paperback of BEACH READ by Emily Henry and THE IRISH GOODBYE by Amy Ewing on my Kindle. I’m hoping by reading romance I can trick myself into dreaming up murder-mystery plot points. (Not working so far. Darn it.)

 Ellen Byron

W.I.P.: I finished the outline for my 4th Vintage Cookbook Mystery, tentatively titled Bells, Beignets, and Bribes. I’m currently struggling with the outline for my 3rd Golden Motel Mystery, which I really hope I get to call The Little Engine That Killed.

Read In Progress: I’m reading and loving J.C. Kenney’s first Elmo Simpson Mystery, Panic in the Panhandle. It’s terrific.

R.I.P.: TV shows being nominated Best Comedy that aren’t funny but are a half-hour long. As someone who spent years working in writers’ rooms to a) mold a great story, and b) work long nights to then make it funny, I get frustrated when I feel the effort we put into b) is disrespected.

Leslie Karst

I recently sent off to my publisher the MS for book two in my Orchid Isle Mysteries, Waters of Destruction. (Whew!) Which means I have some time to breathe and regroup before I get the edits back from my editor. (Nervous finger tapping.) This MS also counts as a rest-in-peace, as figuring out the ending was quite the arduous task.

As for what I’m currently reading, I just finished (and I’m embarrassed to say it’s taken me this long to get to it!) Alexia Gordon’s marvelous Murder in G Major. I’m a great fan of classical music, so her protagonist, conductor/violinist Gethsemane Brown, was a big draw for me, but what I didn’t expect was the delightful Topper-like ghost of the famous conductor who haunts the Irish cottage in which Gethsemane finds herself living. A big thumbs-up.

Becky Clark

I have two things consuming all of my time lately. They’re not the traditional WIPs I’m usually working on. One of them is the annual fundraiser I do to gather emergency supplies for kids abruptly thrown into the foster system, whether they’re newborns or older teens. I beg everyone I know for money, then I buy backpacks and diaper bags and fill them with pjs, a couple changes of clothes, toys, books, a stuffed animal, and any necessities they or their foster parents might need to tide them over for a few days. It’s personally quite fulfilling, albeit overwhelming at times. And the second thing is editing a REALLY FUN short story anthology for my Sisters in Crime chapter. It’s a great premise—even if I do say so myself—and I can’t wait to tell you more about it.

My reading these days involves a lot of short stories (ha!) and my towering pile of magazines because I can only take teensy bites of reading these days—Smithsonian, The Sun, Time, The Atlantic, New Yorker. Ohmygosh, do they pile up!

And what I’m letting go of? My good intentions and any semblance of a schedule.

Jennifer Chow

I’m working-pausing-working on Book 3 in my Magical Fortune Cookie series. (Summertime is always up and down in terms of getting time to write.) The good thing is that I have many threads for the storyline—the bad thing is that I have so many threads. Hoping I can weave everything into something tantalizing for my editor!

In terms of reading, I’m heading toward being buried by an avalanche of books. I must admit that I’m way behind on my TBR list, but I definitely enjoy celebrating book birthdays. A special shout-out to my pub sis, Delia Pitts, whose Trouble in Queenstown is getting a lot of acclaim. Hurrah also to Ellen and, in advance, to Lisa and Cynthia!

I’m resting in peace a few of my future book ideas. They sounded absolutely brilliant a few months ago but have since lost their shine. Here’s hoping for more creative concepts to fill my ideas journal soon!

Readers: Are there any projects you’re working on or books you’re reading that you’d like to share with us?

31 thoughts on “WIPs and RIPs”

  1. Currently, my WIP is To Keep Our Honor Clean, the story of the founding of the 3M Detective Agency in 1987.

    My RIP is Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent, which I rereading prior to starting his new book, Innocent.

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    2. I can’t wait to read it when I’m out of Book Jail, JC! One of my all-time favorite covers, by the way!

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  3. I’m working diligently toward an 11/1 deadline on the first of a new cozy series, Comfy Cat, for Rowan Prose.

    At night I’m slowly making my way through EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE. I love the breezy voice! I’m also sporadically, like Becky, trying to pare down the piles of New Yorkers, Smithsonian magazines, AHMMs, and EQMMs. I quit getting the Atlantic. I might not live long enough to read the issues I have.

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  4. WIP is trying to get a short story published, as well as looking for a publisher for my first ever novel manuscript.

    RIP is a huge pile. I find out about a series when there’s already like 4 written. Currently I’m reading Lori Robbins’ Murder in First Position.

    Hestia

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  5. I am currently writing the eighth in the Laurel Highlands Mysteries called…wait for it…Laurel Highlands #8. I just received the red-line edits for Saving the Guilty, which comes out in August (gulp). I also have to address final revisions for The Lies We Live, book 6 in the Homefront Mysteries, which is due to the publisher soon (double-gulp).

    I’m currently reading a tome called The Last King of America, a biography of George III which focuses heavily on the years of the American Revolution (natch), but also the domestic drama he endured during his reign. Let’s just say the guy got a LOT of bad advice.

    Rest? What’s rest?

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  6. My current read in progress is PLEASE DON’T PUSH UP THE DAISIES by Diane Vallere. That will get me up to date on her Madison Night mysteries (until the new one comes out in October). I’m so close to being all caught up on her books!

    As you know, I’m so with you on the comedy block, Ellen. Those are for comedies, so the shows should be funny. Of course, there is a decided lack of funny shows on TV. I think we could use more laughs as a country. But it seems that people don’t know how to write comedy any more. I try new shows each season and give up because they are trying so hard to be funny that they aren’t actually funny.

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    1. Mark, you know that I feel your comedy pain. We do need more humor in this country. LOTS more! And sitcoms should be a source of it. If they’re not, they’re not doing their job.

      And glad you’re reading my friend Diane!

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  7. I have no WIP, as I am simply an avid reader. I am currently reading THE SACRED BRIDGE by Anne Hillerman. I loved her dad’s Navajo mystery series and was thrilled that picked the series up and carried on with it. I love the series and have learned a lot about the Navajo culture.

    Leslie, I have read all of the Gethsemane Brown series. I loved every single one. They a big thumbs up from me as well.

    Carol

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  8. hestia here. It’s lovely to see everyone reading book after book.

    and thank you for all the well wishes on my adventures. Fingers crossed

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