I was lucky enough to be asked to speak at the New England Chapter of Sisters-in-Crime this past weekend. Whenever I speak in front of a group for the first time, I’m always anxious about what to say and how to phrase it. Most of the time, my workshops are aimed at romance writers or women’s fiction. Even though I’ve published the Priscilla and Neville Regency mystery series, I haven’t really connected into the mystery community.

But there was nothing to worry about, I found, as soon as I arrived at the meeting and was welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm. I saw familiar faces from a class I taught last year on Cape Cod and heard names that I now had a chance to put a face with. When I finished speaking, the questions were incisive and filled with eagerness to discover how the information I was sharing could be used for each person’s wip.

By the time I was partway through the presentation, my concerns had vanished, and I got that boost of good feeling and inspiration that comes from being in the company of other writers. Our business is often solitary, and moments like that one remind me of why I belong to writing organizations and spend far too much time reading yahoo group loops. It is that connection. Just as we are connected to our stories, we need to make connections with each other — to share the joy of creation and the knowledge of marketing.

It’s a shot in the arm that has a ripple effect. I came home and dove into the final draft of my wip with new zeal and new insight…just from being in the company of writers.

For those who missed My Lord Viking when it was originally issued, you’ve got another chance at the end of the month. Last time around, the book was published as J.A. Ferguson. This time, it’s by Jo Ann Ferguson. The book should be up on the ImaJinn Books site ( http://www.imajinnbooks.com ) at the end of the month.

This is one of my favorite books because it combines my love of Viking heroes and Regency heroines. It’s a time travel where a hell-bent Viking ends up in the all-so-proper Regency period with a heroine who is eager to push the envelope. Okay, not a historically accurate metaphor, but you get what I mean.

I’m thrilled that ImaJinn is reprinting it in advance of their new Regency line. Just FYI, My Lord Viking is a sensuous paranormal historical, so if open-door love scenes aren’t your reading preference, wait for Marry Me, Millie coming in late October from ImaJinn’s new Regency line. It is a traditional Regency with the level of sensuality that you’d expect in oen of them.

But if you want an exciting time travel historical with two very mismatched lovers, then give My Lord Viking a try at the end of the month.

Everyone has that special book that inspired them to be more…to follow a dream…to dare to be more than they believed they could be. I have three: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I discovered the magic of words with those books. I’ve always been a voracious reader, consuming books and stories and characters, but A Wrinkle in Time was different. It combined everything that I liked about fantasy with everything I liked about science fiction…with poetry. It was amazing. It took my breath away. It inspired me to want to do better with the stories I was beginning to write. When my English teacher remarked on the increased skill in my writing after the summer I read A Wrinkle in Time, I explained the discovery of this amazing book. It touched me because I felt — as every kid does — like an outsider as Meg did.

It was a few years later that I found A Wind in the Door. I found the book in my town library — a wonderful room on the second floor of the building in the center of town, a room that was filled with oak furniture and a grandfather clock that tick-tocked in the silence because Miss Cruikshank, the librarian, insisted in complete silence. A silence so deep that you could hear someone sliding a book out on the other side of the big room — and she could too!

On that summer day, I was loitering in the library as I often did…and I found A Wind in the Door. I sat down with my back against the low shelves under the tall windows, and I began to read. I read the whole book in one sitting, got up — pretty stiffly — and went to check out the book so I could take it home and read it again. I did. That evening. I was caught up in Meg’s determination to save her little brother…and I knew I’d do anything to keep my little sister from being hurt.

It was many years later that I found A Swiftly Tilting Planet. It was an amazing gift because now Meg was pregnant…just as I was.  At that point, I realized Meg and I had “grown up” together. I have enjoyed most Madeleine L’Engle books I’ve read, but those three books always top my personal favorite books list.

Thank you, Madeleine L’Engle, for writing such wondrous stories…

I decided when I finished my current wip that I would take some time off from writing. I’ve been wanting for several years to scan all the family photos into the computer before the pictures fade out completely. So I decided I’d take the next three weeks to get as much done as I could on that project.

What I didn’t count on was the writing DTs.

I’ve long considered writing my “drug” of choice (in addition to caffeine — the two seem to go hand-in-hand). I know when I spend time each day writing, I feel better and more balanced in all aspects of my life. What I didn’t expect was that when I chose to stop writing for these few weeks before I jumped into my next project that I’d have the DTs like an alcoholic or a drug addict on withdrawal. Uneasiness and anxiety and not being able to sleep…all attacked me in the first few days. Now as I’m almost at the end of my first week of not writing, I’m doing much better (probably because of the caffeine <g>). I’m not as antsy, and I’m able to read posts from my writer friends without that gnawing urge to get back to work. I’m not to the point where I can read a book without figuring out what’s right and wrong with it, but my TBR pile for these weeks is filled with books I want to read just for the fun of it.

So will I get through 3 weeks without writing? Not completely. I’m putting together workshops for the Rhode Island Romance Writers for next Saturday and Sisters in Crime the following Sunday. Some work on projects in the publishing pipeline may pop up.  But it’s an interesting experience, and who knows what ideas will appear out of it?