thriller book | Lori Ericson, Author

Two boxes of books arrived today, and I couldn’t be more excited and proud. A Lovely County was published in January last year. A Lovely Murder, the second in the Danni Deadline Thriller Series is out this week.

I’m hosting a book launch this Sunday, November 13, at the Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville, AR, from 2 to 4 p.m. to make it official. If you’re in driving range, please come.

I want to share this moment because the thrill of publication is just as strong as the first time. It’s kind of like having a baby and then the baby’s sibling. I love both books. I love the nurturing of each word to create my babies. And I love the stories still floating as embryos in my head yearning for birth.

One thing that stays strong with me is the gratitude I feel for my publisher, Pen-L Publishing. They are the VERY best! Duke and Kim Pennell have held my hand from the first pitch of my story to this past week when lining out what my bookmarks will look like. They are supportive and diligent, allowing me to have the last word on the cover and most everything, all the while providing the best in editing and professional help through the process. On top of all that, they are nearly as excited as I am to see this baby arrive.

So, come if you can on Sunday. Hear me read a little from the book, pick up a copy of my new baby, and have a cookie and punch to celebrate!

If you can’t come, check it out on Amazon or on from my publisher, Pen-L at http://www.Pen-L.com/ALovelyMurder.html.

At times I’ve wondered why I bother to write. The process is daunting and the finished product a distant uncertainty. I’ve written a novel expected to be published in January, but it took me years. If I include the idea and the thinking about turning it into an actual book,

Me signing my first publication contract with Oghma Creative Media. Photo by Casey Cowen, Oghma president.

I’d have to admit it took at least two decades. My daughter, now 29 with a child of her own, talks of waking up one morning as a teenager to find me half awake and upset. I told her I’d thrown out the novel I’d started. Yes, I did. I pitched it and started over. That wasn’t the last time either. Now it’s done. It’s hard to believe sometimes that it is.

The process was long, but through the stops and starts and restarts I turned into a writer.
I had planned to start a second in a series of mysteries with the same protagonist, but while finishing the last edit an idea for a thriller came into my head. I had to start writing it before I burst.
That’s just it. I write. I write not because I dream of publication (but nice reward and validation).
I write because it’s in me now and to stop would be denying a part of who I am.