I have been on a run with short stories the past few years. Five sold to Ellery Queen in the past three years. Two to Alfred Hitchcock. Luck with four other collections or anthologies. A piece of flash fiction in Shotgun Honey. The last two years, I’ve been short-listed for the Best American Mystery and Suspense, nominated for the Robert L. Fish Award by the Mystery Writers of America for my first short story, and recipient of the Bodwell Fellowship for the Maine Writers and Publisher Alliance.

Lately, I’ve been working on something longer about Pittsburgh in the 1980s. I was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in northwestern PA. Erie. Pittsburgh. Waterford. Greensburg. Somerset. Windber. With dairy farms and coal mines and lake effect snow.

I’m still asking a lot of the same questions about family and loyalty and independence. Still thinking about what sorts of lines a person is willing to cross for the people they love.

The process has been very rewarding. But it’s also been tough.

Specifically, staying in a groove.

As I’ve mentioned, I have two kids. They are great. My two favorite things. Funny and fun and very active. But kids require food and water and attention. They have sporting interests and other interests not related to sports.  Which means my afternoon, evening, and weekend routines are not regular. But I’m still getting it done. I knocked out a scene sitting on the floor at my younger son’s basketball practice. I knocked out another scene at my older son’s batting practice at the Picklr in Westbrook where there is a secret batting practice in a creepy back room.

I travel a lot for my job. It’s good, hard work. But my routine is finding an hour at the end of the day and an hour in the morning and an hour on a plane. I’ve drafted scenes at hotel rooms in Storrs and Easton, Connecticut, in  Warwick, Rhode Island, or on an island in Maine. I’ve reworked them in my mother-in-law’s basement outside Bangor. At the beautiful La Quinta in Texas. At a park in Reno.

I did finish another draft. It is sitting at around 45,000 words. Which is either 40,000 words too short or 40,000 words too long.

I’m up against some issues that are pretty common with writers of short fiction. Things are compressed. Some scenes read like screen-writing – all stage directions and dialogue. I’m missing interiority in some places and world-building in others. Perhaps I’m underutilizing the secondary characters and subplots.

If you write, I’m curious about your process. Do you go long and then have to edit down? Are you a pantser? Or do you plot everything out?

A few updates:

You can catch my latest story in the March/April Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. It’s called “Generous Strike Zone” and was written at my older son’s baseball practice. The editor of AHMM said it was “haunting.” You’ve been warned.

“The Best and Sweetest Things” is my second story with Sloane, a Portland-based private investigator. She’s going to be a fun recurring character. It’s out in the May/June Ellery Queen.

And finally, I have another Annie story out in the July/August Ellery Queen called “A Well-Worn Path.” This one takes place in Portland and involves the disappearance of a comfort care companion who happens to be a refugee.  I wrote this story in November of 2024. It’s going to land a little different now.

For events:

• On March 15, I’ll be at the Kittery Dancehall for a Seacoast Noir at the Bar. Doors open at 6:00.
• On April 10, I’ll be at the Bloom & Doom event in Old Town at Kanu (283 Main Street) at 7:00pm.
• On April 15, I wish I could be at the Murder in Mud Season event at the Rockport Public Library. It’s going to be amazing. Doors at 6:00. (I will be in Reno. You know. For work.)
• On April 29, I’ll be in New York for the Edgars.
• On May 29 and 30, I will be in Portland for the Maine Crime Wave. It is going to be AMAZING. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do it now. Information is HERE.