For something new and different, it’s raining. Imagine that. I slept through the thunder last night. I think it’s become like living in a house near the train track. At some point you just do not hear the train anymore.

I got the call from my mom a week ago Friday. My dad had been ill for a long time, and I had just recently been back to visit him, but it was still a shock to hear that he had passed. He was a good man, a great one...a World War II vet who had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1976 and later suffered diabetes, skin cancer, and a stroke, and never once complained about any of it. He died at 81 years old.

Some people go to the beach in the summer. I go to conventions! Right now I am at ThrillerFest, the International Thriller Writers Conference in New York. I fly to Chicago Friday afternoon for the American Library Association Convention. Then it's on to the Romance Writers of America Conference in Washington, DC and then Comic-Con in San Diego. Adventures like this are great for meeting both authors and readers.

With all this rain we've been getting, I feel like I'm living in Seattle or London. It's the end of June, and it's rained more than two-thirds of the month. I've reached my saturation point. Luckily, reading a book is something you can do regardless of the forecast.