I wish it was already written because trying to live up to all the fan expectation for this wedding. It’s really intimidating. 🤦🏻‍♀️😁💍👰🏻‍♀️🤵🏻

A weird number of readers missed A SHIVER OF LIGHT, the 9th Merry Gentry novel. Not sure why, but you are far from the first person to say you missed it and only found it years after it was published. Glad you enjoyed it! I can’t wait for you and everyone to read the next part of Merry’s story.

I’m panning to write more Zaniel Havelock, but first Merry Gentry, then next Anita Blake. Merry fans have been waiting 10 years for the next book and Anita fans need a wedding. Then Zaniel will get his second book after A Terrible Fall of Angels.

Writing was going great guns & now I’m down with an upper respiratory, sinus, & ear infection. Maybe I was pushing too hard, but I was so close to finishing the book. I’m still learning how to balance long covid & my writing.

“What are you doing Friday night?” I asked. “Whatever you tell me to do.” The line dripped with the kind of innuendo they invented the Hays code for. Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood

When inspiration comes knocking always answer even if it’s 5:00 AM & pitch dark outside. Sometimes especially then, because that means the book is at a white, hot heat. If you go back to sleep the creative flames will cool & hours later it’s just ashes. The muse fled & the writer left in the dust.

The writing is red hot, at last. Dinner last night I started to wash my hands. Realized they were clean that the dirt & blood I was certain was on my hands was in the scene I was writing, not real life. When the line between imagination & reality blurs this hard it’s magic.

To my fellow Sherlock Holmes fans - have I missed it in the stories or do we not get any mention of extended family for Dr. Watson? Yes he gets married, but I can’t seem to find any mention of parents or siblings. Is that correct?

Three high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

“That’s the beautiful thing about bullshit. It can’t be outsourced.” What TV am I quoting.

Took the weekend off to spend time with my husband. Theme was books so we hit the library and a used bookstore we’d never visited. Relaxing and great bonding for two bookworms. Then he had gaming scheduled so I went to my office. Finished first big edits on the current book on my desk.

Blessed October full moon!

The movie HEADS OF STATE with Idris Elba and John Cena is a rollicking action packed romp. We laughed out loud a lot.

Let it begin! Let it begin! October 1st and my first t-shirt for Spooky Season.

Tom Holland as Milo, Zoe Saldana as Kida in a live action remake of Disney’s Atlantis. It would be awesome.

Freedom! I finished the second round of edits for the new Merry Gentry book at 2:00 AM. It’s off to my editor in New York and now I can sleep.

Sorry, I haven’t been posting, but I’m knee deep in the second round of Merry Gentry edits. I find that online splits my focus too much right now, so I’ll see you on the other side of the creative divide.

@laurellkhamilton.bsky.social I’m rereading “Affliction”. I love this book because I vibe with it so hard as a woman that served in the military and as a police officer.

"His hand hung there, pale and slender. There was no tremor to the fingers, no movement, as if he could stand there offering me his hand forever. And maybe he could." The patience, even stretched thin, that this man has... So sexy. Quote from "Guilty Pleasures" by @laurellkhamilton.bsky.social

If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula. (Vampire is @laurellkhamilton.bsky.social's Jean-Claude) #AnitaBlake #BookSky

Help me help cats 💙🐈‍⬛ #CozyCatJam Raising money to support my local rescue @alley-aristocats.bsky.social Help spread the word! @morgfair.bsky.social @manmademoon.bsky.social @gailsimone.bsky.social @richardkadrey.bsky.social @laurellkhamilton.bsky.social itch.io/b/3118/cozy-...

Donuts for Caturday thanks to Smaug and Marshmallow. Coffee served separately.

Magnus is king of the cat tunnel! No kittens allowed. Happy Caturday.

2025 Book 39: Divine Misdemeanours by @laurellkhamilton.bsky.social ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I can see why the series is making a comeback… she was about a decade ahead of the fairy-smut curve😆 I think I’ll stop for now, and hold off on book 9 (A Shiver of Light) until closer to book 10 release date (2026?) 📚 #Booksky

Signed up for Covid booster, but when we arrived for our appointment the place was closed. Sign said they closed 2 hours before our scheduled time. Anyone else having trouble getting boosters?

The 10th Merry Gentry novel is off to my editor!

Anita’s love of coffee is part of her character & an homage to hard boiled detectives which is part of her literary heritage. Just as my character, Zaniel Havelock prefers tea because he’s 6’3” & the epitome of what most people think hard boiled detectives are, so I want against type.

For those of us that got the genetics for pessimism (yes, between 50-80% of your base optimism or pessimism is inherited) remember that happiness is a skill we have to learn. It’s not natural to us so it’s harder but we can learn to get better at it.

Unless a character has to hide behind them, then color could matter a great deal. But if a character doesn’t have to interact with the scenery then I don’t care what color the curtains or walls are.

Start with the most interesting thing in a scene. You need to build a world for your characters to stand in, touch, taste, hear, smell, & feel but don’t get so busy building the scenery that you forget that you’re constructing it to tell your story.

It’s Shark Week! We’re enjoying it like every year. It’s a great break from the headlines. 🦈

Between mystery, thrilling adventure, hot sex, & just great story there isn’t time to show many of the parts of true love that make relationships last in any of my book series. The tempestuous beginnings of love that make for good fiction don’t always translate to decades of happiness.

Glanced out window to see vegetation by the pond moving a lot. I waited to see what it was & it was a raccoon. Not an adult but a baby. Not tiny but about the size of a football. It seemed to be on its own. Hope it’s old enough for that.

Blessed Summer Solstice!

Everyone in the St. Louis area be safe. Tornado warning is past here, but having multiple warnings stacked on top of each other while hiding in the basement not fun. Just to be clear, we’re safe & out of the basement.

This morning started off with chipmunks in the garden. There’s something magical to waking up to them so close.

Shutting my office down for the day at twilight & there was a deer in the yard almost lost to the meadow grass. Watching her pick her dainty, cautious way through the grass helped me remember to look for fireflies. They were there in the tall grass & trees like tiny stars. Happy June 1st!

First cuppa by the water garden this morning. Yes, that is a koi in the background with the dark red irises.

Tornado sirens got us out of bed and down in the basement. Be safe everyone

Writing called again for storms. The lightning got a little loud and close so I closed it all down and started moving cats. After last time I don’t want to be doing that while sirens are sounding. We’re under a tornado watch & thunderstorm is past. 🤞🏻 that’s it for tonight.

Happy gotcha day to our big boy, Magnus! Officially named after Magnus the Red, if you know, you know. Full name, Magnus Maximus because when we adopted him he was supposed to be 2 years old, but vet said, he was only 8 months.

Today’s writing called on account of tornado sirens. But we’re all safe and that’s what counts.

First cuppa drunk outside in the garden. Bird song, bees buzzing, water singing over rocks before I sit down for a day of writing.

Our “New Dawn” climbed the entire front of the house and then one year I didn’t winter proof well enough and it died. I miss it so much.

“After school shootings, many Republicans try to shift the public conversation away from gun violence and toward mental health programs that might make mass shootings less likely. Student mental health grants had bipartisan support. “Trump is cutting them anyway.” www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

So many people have grown up to be the villains of our stories.

Having Merry Gentry solving mysteries & fighting hostile magic while dealing with motherhood has been a challenge. It’s convinced me even more that Anita Blake does not need a baby.