I have been a fan of fantasy and science fiction for as long as I can remember. Everything from fairy tales to Robert Lynn Asprin and Patricia C. Wrede, to Tolkien.

    I also love classics. I read Little Women some time in junior high, I think. I spent time in my school libraries and the city library. Every summer a bookmobile came to my neighborhood each week and I'd get a stack of books.

    I loved my English classes. So much so that I majored in English. I have no idea how many books I've collected over the years, but it's a lot— hundreds. I don't want jewelry or flowers. I want books.

            I read Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, and Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in elementary school. I watched Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis, Murder, and other similar shows. But, except for Sherlock Holmes, I didn't read mysteries.

            Not until my daughter introduced me to one particular cozy mystery… Now, seventeen series later, I'm hooked.

            I've decided I want to try writing a cozy mystery for NaNoWriMo this year. It means I have to do a LOT of planning. I need all my characters lined up, my red herrings, false leads, secondary character stories… I'm looking forward to it.

            I think I'm going to have fun. I still love fantasy, and I want to get the three books I've written ready to get published in the next couple of years, but I want to try this, too. Why not? I've done plenty of research, and it'll give me something new to work on. That will help me with my writing in general.

            On a positive note, not only am I considering writing a cozy mystery, I'm writing more poetry, I wrote a new story for an anthology and I may try writing another this month for a second one. I've cut back on some things and I'm getting more productive with my writing. The year  is going to end on a high note.