I’m not doing National Novel Writing Month this year; I’m finally getting around to finishing the Spadena Street cozy mysteries I’ve begun during previous years.
The first is BAR SINISTER, in which the residents of 1 Spadena Street, a two-block cul-de-sac of Storybook Style houses, work to clear the woman accused of murdering a rat’s-ass DA.
Morning on Spadena Street
excerpt from BAR SINISTER
by Marian Allen

At 1 Spadena Street, a brown woman, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, worked at the stove. A pink woman, in flannel pajamas with hipster penguins on them, shuffled in.
“You finally up?” Doris Winston turned two slabs of ham over in the skillet. “I thought I was gonna have to come up and put an ice cube down your back.”
“It’s 8:30, Mama D.” The pink woman scratched her head, disarranging her disarranged hair into less disorder. “That isn’t late.”
“Oh, Juss, Juss. Real folks are working by 8:30.” Doris pushed the ham aside and broke a couple of eggs into the sizzling pan.
“Guess I must not be real, then.” Juss attempted a sniff and achieved a snort. “If I’m imaginary, how about imagining me without sinuses? Anyway, I don’t have any appointments today. I don’t think I do. I better check.”
“Breakfast almost ready,” Doris called to Juss’ back.
In her office, Juss checked her appointment book and was disappointed to find the day blank. She called in her allergy prescription.
Happy thought. She flipped open the yellow pages, found a temporary agency, and ordered a secretary. Happy, happy.
~ * ~
I have most of it done, and all of it outlined, although I expect it to change a lot as I go. Right now, I’m transferring it, scene by scene, into yWriter5, because I have a feeling it’s going to need some serious scene-shuffling.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What kind of jammies does your main character wear? Why?
MA
Jane
November 9, 2014 at 10:26amCan’t wait.
I love the yWriter5, too. I just transfered my first Callie book back to it for a revision. I re-read it this week and decided it needed another action segment, so I’m adding one. Then I get to transfer back to Word and check ALLLL the formatting.
I’m thinking about renting an updated version of Word just for the editing. Isn’t that a notion? $9.99 a month (from the Cloud).
Marian Allen
November 9, 2014 at 2:06pmExcellent idea! There’s no program out there, that I know of, that has as good a search-and-replace feature as Word’s. I get to read the new segment, right?
Jane
November 10, 2014 at 9:35amBut of course!!!!!!