“Craft: Have you ever stopped abruptly and taken up a
different project and never gone back to the old one?”
First of all, an apology and a warning…I’m sick and feeling
sorry for myself; having nursed Husband through a nasty head cold, he thanked
me profusely then had the temerity to infect me. I hate head colds – few things
make me feel as incapable of thought as having to breathe through my mouth
making a horrible wheezing sound with each ragged, heaving intake. UGH!
So, my short answer to this week’s question is no, I haven’t
left an unfinished project behind; I’m a goal-oriented completer-finisher…the
idea of leaving something half-done or unfinished fills me with dread.
 |
| Everything traditionally published (to March 2017) |
Sometimes that’s annoying, other times it helps when the
going gets tough – like this week, when I really could have done with a total
rest, but know I’m on the road so much between next week and the end of June
that I have to get ahead or I’ll never catch up, so I’m sitting here working my
way through a box of Kleenex and tapping away. It’s weird what we do when we’re
sick, isn’t it? (I also have an insane craving for bread and butter with lashings
of Marmite – something my dulled taste
buds will be able to detect…but that’s not your problem. Luckily I have a
squeezable container of Marmite in the cupboard, so I can give myself closure
on that count, PHEW!)
 |
| Soon to be re-written |
A Post Script about returning to previously completed
projects: later this year I’ll be rewriting my first two self-published books –
MURDER: Month by Month (a collection of twelve short and not-so-short stories)
and MURDER: Season by Season (a collection of four novella). They contain within
them the “genesis” stories for both my Cait Morgan Mysteries and The WISE
Enquiries Agency Mysteries. I’m looking forward to looking back – they’ll need to
be totally overhauled because I hope I’ve developed as a writer over the course
of creating twelve novels (with eleven of them already published). It should be
an interesting process, and I hope readers will be engaged by the idea of
finding out how Cait first met Bud, and how the WISE women became just that.
Now I need to get myself that Marmite-y snack, then lie down in a dark room and make gentle
groaning sounds…I wish the dogs had opposable thumbs, then they could be much
more useful when I’m poorly and it’s snowing and the snow shovel is calling my
name. Hey – I warned you – these are the ramblings of a feverish crime writer…you’re
lucky only Marmite and snow shovels wormed their way into this piece.
Cathy Ace is the Bony Blithe Award-winning author of The
Cait Morgan Mysteries (#8 The Corpse with the Ruby Lips was released on November
1st) and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (#3, The Case of the Curious Cook, was released in hardcover in the UK on
November 30th and in the USA & Canada on March 1st). You can find out more
about Cathy, her work and her characters at her website, where you can also
sign up for her newsletter with news, updates and special offers:
http://cathyace.com/
