The Saturday Writing Quote — McKee on imagination

“Lean back and ask: ‘What would it be like to live my character’s life hour by hour, day by day?’ While memory views whole chunks of life, imagination takes fragments, slivers of dream and chips of experience that seem unrelated, then finds hidden connections and merges them into a whole.”

— Robert McKee, screenwriting teacher and author of Story

(photo: The Bovine Bibiliophile, at The Bookstore, Dillon, MT)

Book Launch News — Chai Another Day

lleslie budewitz chai another dayFinally, it’s time to CHAI ANOTHER DAY! The fourth Seattle Spice shop mystery is out today, in trade paper and ebook, from Seventh St. Books. (The audio is coming August 6th.)

From the cover: 

Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece probes murder while juggling a troubled employee, her mother’s house hunt, and a fisherman who’s set his hook for her.

As owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece is always on the go. Between conjuring up new spice blends and serving iced spice tea to customers looking to beat the summer heat, she finally takes a break for a massage. But the Zen moment is shattered when she overhears an argument in her friend Aimee’s vintage home decor shop that ends in murder.

Wracked by guilt over her failure to intervene, Pepper investigates, only to discover a web of deadly connections that could ensnare a friend – and Pepper herself.

*** As many of you know, it’s been a while since the third in the series, KILLING THYME, came out. I’m enormously pleased to have a new publisher — and as much in love with Arf the dog, on the cover, as ever! This is my tenth book and ninth novel, which is a bit mind-blowing, and I’m grateful to all of you who’ve waited patiently for this installment. As long as you keep reading, I’ll keep writing! Deal?