2025: February 2025 ~
2024: December ~ September ~ July ~ June ~ May
FEBRUARY 2025
I recently received a new PC, which was a long time coming. My old computer is ten years old, with the 8.1 Windows operating system. Many of the programs were not functioning properly, and it was slow as molasses on start-up. The new PC is a Hewlett-Packard Pro Tower business desktop, with Windows 11 and new versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop Elements.
DECEMBER 2024
Hearts in Sorrow (prequel to the Collective Obsessions Saga) was released by Club Lighthouse Publishing today. The book is available at Amazon (Kindle and paperback), and at the Club Lighthouse Publishing website (multiple formats). It is also available as a paperback at Barnes & Noble.
Nine down, one to go! Read more >
SEPTEMBER 2024
I've been making my way through Limb of Iniquity over the last several weeks, gathering all the points together so as to end the Collective Obsessions Saga once and for all. Hence my lack of blog posts recently. Every waking moment seems to be focused on the book, leaving me little time for anything else.
Some characters in Limb of Iniquity do die (naturally or by nefarious means) because the timeline takes place during the COVID epidemic (roughly 2020-2022). At the moment, seven people are written in to expire in the fictional town of Larkin City, Maine. Some characters are very well known, others not so much. Read more >
JULY 2024
Read more >After the first round of editing, Hearts in Sorrow came in at 130 pages with 49,431 words. From start to finish, Hearts in Sorrow took me about three months to write. It is not an overly long novel, unlike other titles in the Collective Obsessions Saga, but it was ample for establishing the story between John Larkin and Maeve O'Quinn as she did not live much beyond her 19th birthday.
I sent the manuscript to my publisher, who in turn sent me a contract for the book on July 20th. I've said it many times before, but receiving a publishing contract never gets old, and in no way do I take it for granted. It gives me a thrill each time. If all goes according to plan, the e-book and paperback editions of Hearts in Sorrow should be released by Christmas 2024.
Read more >
I truly dislike writing character death scenes, but it simply has to be done for a fictional story that spans more than 165 years through ten novels.
If I can keep up the relentless pace, I predict the first draft of Hearts in Sorrow will be complete by the end of July or early August.
JUNE 2024
I've re-designed the "splash" page of my website.
If you hover your mouse over the image on the actual web page, it goes from blue to green. You have to be quick about it, though. I coded the splash to forward to the main page in 9 seconds. Read more >
It's been almost nine years since I last took the Proust Questionnaire.
According to Wikipedia: "The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one's personality. Its name and modern popularity as a form of interview is owed to the responses given by the French writer Marcel Proust." Read more >
MAY 2024
I must be out of my ever-loving mind to write two books at once. However, that's exactly what I'm doing at the moment, and I'm bound and determined to finish both of them before year-end.
At least the two books are part of the Collective Obsessions Saga. Hearts in Sorrow is the "prequel," while Limb of Iniquity is the final installment. It brings the saga to a nice, round number of ten novels in the series.
Read more >
There are many complicated family tree software programs available online, but I rely on Famtree. It's been around for ages, yet it is still the best genealogy application I've ever used (even better than Ancestry.Com and Roots Magic).
Famtree has been essential to me in building and tracking the fictional Larkin and Sullivan families in relation to the Collective Obsessions Saga. I cannot sing high enough praise to the program and its creator, Phil Sapiro.
Without it, I wouldn't have been able to create the Larkin-Sullivan Family Tree. Read more >
I'm finally finished with website updates for the time being. I basically re-did all the sites for my books, and edited several of the accompanying documents as well.
Click here to download the document.
Read more >
A new page has been launched on my website, which includes photo snapshots taken from the dedication pages of paperback books by yours truly and my pseudonym, Deidre Dalton.
The dedications are also available in a PDF document. Click here to download the file.
Read more >
While the new Food Fare Gallery does not have pictures of food per say, it does contain all cookbook and Culinary Collection covers.
On a foody-related note, I recently changed the status of Glinhaven Cookery to a free cookbook, which is available as a PDF download only. The collection is a compilation of more than 45 recipes mentioned or prepared by characters in Glinhaven. There is also a small section at the end of the cookbook containing recipes for felines.
Read more >
More new fonts to add to my collection. The following is a miscellaneous array, which can be used in almost any theme (notwithstanding that I added "Cinnamon Coffee Cake" to the list twice!).
One might think people would run out of new font designs eventually, but they seem to come in a never-ending stream.
Read more >
In keeping with my recent spin into re-doing book websites, I took a stab at new designs for my novels Celtic Remnants, The Crypt Artist, Glinhaven, and Mind Sweeper. Hands down, the new "splash" page for Mind Sweeper turned out the best:
I find creating designs quite relaxing, as odd as it may sound. It is second only to my love of reading. Read more >
