Kat Shergill

Because I've been spending the past few days sprucing up my novel The Silent Treatment, I thought I'd give its heroine her own blog space: check out Kat Shergill Mysteries for information about novel releases and short stories. Since the mysteries follow a definite timeline (unlike, say, Nancy Drew, who remained the same age for 70 years), I've decided to create "filler" stories for interesting things that happen between the novels ... you know, to keep you guys interested.

The first appeared on the blog Generations, called Do Not Spoil the Ending, in which Kat and her friend Bridget get into trouble in Canada.

Without further ado, I'll go back to editing so I can get this novel public soon!

The Elusive Dream

Ah, the feeling. Opening my email to what I'm sure is another rejection letter (after a while, you only have to read the first few words: Thank you for your query. Unfortunately ... ), and finding the words, "may we send you a contract?" instead is nothing short of stunning.

The work in question is a short story called The Morning After. It's about two vacationers joining their friends in a wooded cabin, only to find one friend brutally attacked and everyone else missing. Like most of my stories, this one went through a multitude of changes before finally settling into its final form (and after the editors at the publisher get finished, it could very well change again). My critique buddies helped me tremendously with this piece--from telling me which sentences didn't flow well, to which whole pages ruined the suspense. Forever grateful!

After a few days feeling like I kind of suck at writing, this was the ego boost I needed to get back to work.


On a roll ...

Just posted my long-overdue story to Generations, the blog where my Papaw, my Dad, my sister, and I tackle a central topic and write something about it.

Yeah, I played a little with Photoshop.

The story I posted, Do Not Spoil the Ending, uses a familiar setting (Toronto) and a familiar situation (uhh.. spoiler), and makes something completely fictional out of it. I also used Kat and Bridget, characters from the mystery novel I'm trying to sell, and learned more about their personalities and background.

Something which I have no experience with, but find really interesting, is urban exploration. The story touches on it when the characters wander into the long-closed Lower Bay subway station (which is real -- read about it toward the end of this page: Infiltration: Toronto Subways). Creepy and exciting, huh?