Sisters Writing Crime
It’s cold in Tucson, Arizona today. Jerry and I come here every New Year’s Eve and stay for a few days if we possibly can. I find it a wonderful place to start the new year and set my goals. We stay in the beautiful Westin La Paloma in the Catalina Foothills. I highly recommend the hotel and the area. The desert is beautiful and there are several outstanding restaurants nearby.
 |
| A Christmas tree made of living Barrel Cactus in the front of the hotel. After Christmas, they plant them on the property. |
 |
| A view of the beautiful Catalina Foothills from our hotel room. |
This year, I am working on my blog, and my sister Judi and I are well into our third novel. We write mysteries under a pseudonym we created by combining our two last names: Tess Thompson. This novel is going to be titled, Darker Than Death. We have finished 18 chapter so far and are on a roll.
We both live in Texas, but we live 758 miles apart. Judi's in Houston, and I’m in El Paso. We have to drive all day or buy an expensive airline ticket to get together. This week we are both on writers’ retreats, but not together. I’m here in Arizona and she is at her vacation home in Angel Fire, New Mexico, where she and her husband spend every Christmas.
Thank goodness for updated technology. When we wrote our first book together in 2002, we only had email. Now we are collaborating by using cell phones, texting, emailing, and DropBox. Of course, we had a super planning session in 2014 at my house along with lots of red wine and Mexican food. Once we get a book plotted and the outline written, we each choose the chapters we want to write and away we go.
Darker Than Death is turning out to be very interesting. As usual, we never know what the characters are going to do. We kind of follow them around as they act out the story. We will publish it this year. Check back for the exact date later.
Judi and I both worked as educators for three decades each, and now we are officially retired and our job title is: novelist. This is what we have both always wanted to do. It’s even more fun than we thought.
We would love to have you check out our books. Just visit our Amazon Page and our Website.
I hope your new year in 2015 will make all your dreams come true.
