THE SEVENTH WITCH was a lot of fun for me to write. From the beginning of the series, I knew that someday I’d want to take the “girls” back to Abby’s birthplace. The chance to do research for this book came a couple of years ago when I was invited to attend The Women’s Expo in Kingsport, TN., and thanks to the organizers, Sharon Robinson and Lydia Wiley, I not only had a great time, but had the chance to meet women who actually practice folk magick. And their input was invaluable during the writing of this book!

Now about THE SEVENTH WITCH…Ophelia, Abby, and Tink return to Abby’s birthplace for the infamous Great-Aunt Mary’s 100th birthday celebration and Great-Aunt Mary is just as prickly and difficult as Ophelia remembers! (Also Aunt Dot, one of the series’ most popular characters, makes another appearance.) Ophelia is expecting a quiet family vacation, but it doesn’t take long for the trip to turn sinister. And Abby is the target! It’s going to take everything Ophelia has learned to get them out of this one!

This story line is a little darker than past Ophelia and Abby’s, but I hope the readers will enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!!

As far as my upcoming schedule…starting on the 24th, I’ll be visiting Amberkatze’s Book Blog. Once again, I had a great time answering Amber’s questions and I’ll be dropping by during the week to respond to any readers’ questions. In May, I’ll be attending The Festival of Mystery sponsored by Mystery Lovers Bookshop. As the year progresses, I’ll be adding more events and I’ll be sure to get them posted here.

Well, that brings you all up to date as to what’s happening now, but what about the future? As many of you know, THE SEVENTH WITCH was the last Ophelia and Abby contract. Will there be more? To be honest, I hope so!!! But for now, I’m working on a stand alone for Avon. My goal as a writer has always been to try and grow as an author, and Avon has given me the opportunity to do so with this next book. I can’t say too much about it now…we want to give THE SEVENTH WITCH a proper launch…but I can tell you this…“new concept; new name”! In a couple of months, I’ll post more about it.

And last but certainly not least, I want to thank you all once again for your support!! AND apologize for my sporadic posting. Hopefully, I can do better in 2010!

That’s it for now—everyone take care!

Best,

Shirley  

So what have I been doing??? Well, after finishing THE SEVENTH WITCH, I began work on a stand alone, DIE STANDING, and spent the summer writing the first five chapters and a proposal. I’m now pleased to announce that last week the proposal was accepted. I don’t have any details yet…we’re in negotiations…but I promise, once everything is finalized, I’ll let you know what the plans are. I’ll also let you know when the cover (I haven’t been given the final go-ahead) and an excerpt of THE SEVENTH WITCH is posted. Btw—I’ve seen the plans for the cover, and it’s really awesome!! One of the best we’ve had!

And I want everyone to know that even though I’ve been remiss in sending out messages, I do post every Thursday on our “Something Wicked” blog with Angie Fox, Ann Aquirre, Casey Daniels, and Lori Devoti. We have a lot of fun over there so check us out!

And last but certainly not least…Diane over at “The Book Resort” is sponsoring an “Ophelia and Abby” week as part of her “Countdown to Halloween” celebration. I had a blast doing an interview with Diane, so stop by, take a peek at the interview, and enter to win a free book!!

That’s it for now—take care and Happy Halloween to everyone!!

Best,

Shirley    

Join Shirley online Friday 2/13/09 for an exclusive interview at Bitten By Books

SPECIAL CONTEST:
Beginning on 2/9/09 and ending on 2/14/09 come by and enter to win ONE of TEN copies of The Witch’s Grave from author Shirley Damsgaard! Open to readers worldwide!

What’s an edited manuscript like? Well, since I’ve only worked with Avon, I don’t know how it is with other publishing houses, but in my case, Sarah, and now Emily, have been very thorough! They find holes in the plot, change all those pesky dangling participles, and put the commas where they’re supposed to be, not where I think they should be!! They make those comments and corrections on the pages in blue. And right now, I figure I owe them at least one box of new pencils to replace all the ones they’ve used up on my manuscripts!!

But you know…every time they’ve been right! They have one goal—to make the book better, to make it more satisfying to the readers. And when I’m going through the edited manuscript and reading their comments, in addition to a little embarrassment over the fact that I can’t use above mentioned commas correctly to save my life, I always have those “slap myself on the forehead; why didn’t I think of that?” moments. The way I see it…I’m really lucky that I’ve had two editors who are invested enough in the series to spend so much time going through the manuscript line by line. And they’re busy women—I’m not their only author—I know from our emails that they do a lot of this “stuff” on the weekends when they’re supposed to be having fun!

So when you read Ophelia and Abby, it’s not just my creation. Sarah and Emily have both put their stamp on the series. And I, for one, am very grateful!!!

That’s it for now—take care and have a good one!

Best,
Shirley

First, I started the celebration by slipping on the ice…kind of looked like Chevy Chase doing an impression of Gerald Ford as I went down…the night before. As a result, Christmas Eve I could not bend over, could not squat down. (Well I could, but someone had to help me up after I did. How old do you think I felt?? ) We had decided to forgo the usual Christmas ham and go with chili and potato soup, which worked great, except I made too much chili. (God forbid anyone should go home hungry, right?) And the potato soup boiled over onto my sparkling clean stove as everyone stood around talking and eating munchies. (Ah well, what’s a little scorched soup among family??)

And where were the grandchildren (the three middle ones anyway—boys—two eight year olds and a five year old) while the adults stood in the kitchen talking? Not with their little noses pressed against the window looking for a sleigh filled with toys I can tell you that. No, they were chasing each other around the house with the dog in hot pursuit and using voices that should only be used outside. The dog, by the way, was carrying one of her throw toys around in her mouth, hoping that one of them would slow down long enough to give it a toss. Unfortunately for her, that didn’t happen. (And if any of their teachers are reading this and the boys happen to be telling tales at school…honest, I was only kidding when I threatened to put them in the dog kennel!! I know that’s illegal!!)

After the gift exchange where the boys mentioned above received, courtesy of Grandma and to be taken home, toys that made all sorts of vroom-vroom noises, we adjourned to the breakfast room so the kids could decorate Christmas cookies. (Not homemade, I might add…Hy Vee grocery store has great specials on them this time of year! ) We hauled out the red and the rather noxious green frosting (those weren’t homemade either) plus bottles of sprinkles and colored sugar. (Note to self: next year DO NOT buy the little ball shaped sprinkles! They not only bounce all over the place when shaken by eager little hands, but they roll across the floor with the speed of light when one tries to sweep. Also remember to divide the frosting so each child has their own bowl. Community slobber from licked knives is a bad thing.) And btw, the birds in the backyard are now feasting on the frosting-laden cookies that for some strange reason the parents forgot to take home.

Yup, all in all it was a great Christmas! My once clean house might have had bits of colored wrapping paper strewn about; my kitchen might have looked like a tornado hit it, to say nothing of the lingering aroma of burnt milk; my kids might be feasting on sent-home, left-over chili for the next month; and I’m probably going to be sweeping up teeny tiny balls and colored sugar until spring, but we had what was important—we were together!

I hope everyone’s Christmas was as merry as mine!

Best,

Shirley

PS—Don’t forget THE WITCH’S GRAVE is on sale Tuesday!!! Yipee!!