posted on May 27, 2013 by Linda O. Johnston

Multiples in Writing

houndsaboundreadhumaneThanks to Writerspace for inviting me to blog! It’s delightful to be here… and I’ll be talking about my multiples in writing.

This is a busy year for me. Of course, all years turn out busy for me. That’s partly because I write for a couple of publishers, and, yes, in different genres. And lots of my stories are in series. That’s what I mean by my multiples.

For example, my fourth Pet Rescue Mystery OODLES OF POODLES, from Berkley Prime Crime, was a February 2013 release. So was UNDERCOVER WOLF, the fourth book in my Alpha Force miniseries for Harlequin Nocturne, their paranormal line. And I’m delighted to say that my third Pet Rescue Mystery HOUNDS ABOUND was reprinted this month with a special seal on it as part of Penguin Group (USA)’s Read Humane program, so I’ve been busy letting people know about that, too.

beaglemaniaWhat’s Read Humane? Well, the Penguin Group, parent to Berkley Prime Crime, has made a substantial contribution to the Humane Society of the United States for each year the program has existed. The funds are designated to help support the HSUS Animal Rescue Team, which rescues animals from all sorts of difficult situations, everything from natural disasters to man-made horrors like puppy mills and animal fighting. The Penguin Group then chose several books it published that have animal themes and reprinted them with their seal to help encourage awareness of animal rescue. This is the second year of the Read Humane Program. My first Pet Rescue Mystery BEAGLEMANIA was also selected as part of Read Humane last year.

The manuscripts for those books, of course, were completed some time ago. Since then, I’ve worked on a lot more manuscripts.

undercoverwolfRight now, I’m finishing a proposal for the sixth story in my Alpha Force miniseries for Nocturne. It’s due at the end of this month, with the full manuscript due a few months from now. What’s Alpha Force? It’s a covert military unit of shapeshifters! I love to write about animals, especially canines, and most of the shifters in my stories are werewolves. I’ve already written the fifth book in the series and it will be published next year.

But I don’t only write about animals. I recently finished my second Harlequin Romantic Suspense novel: COVERT ATTRACTION. It’ll be published in December of this year. It’s got lots of romance and suspense in it, but no pets.

Pets are present in my first e-novella, though, which will be published next month by Berkley Prime Crime. It’s called NONSTOP SPANIELS, and is part of the Pet Rescue Mysteries. It features NKLA–No Kill Los Angeles–an initiative of Best Friends Animal Society that encourages shelters of all kinds to save and rehome, and not kill, the animals they take in.

Are there more to come? Oh, yeah! I never stop plotting. And imagining. And writing.

Plus, I’m sharing what I do again. I’m teaching another online class this year for Savvy Authors–in August. It’s called Creativity, Crafts and Killing: How To Write a Cozy Mystery Series. It’ll be similar to a prior class I gave for people interested in writing cozies. I just gave a talk at a local library on the same topic. Do I like writing cozies? Definitely. But I love writing romances, too. In fact, I’m on an upcoming panel with several other romance writers. Oh, and another panel with mystery writers, too.

Do you think I’m ricocheting between stories and between genres? Could be, but it’s a whole lot of fun! I’m plotting something that doesn’t fit in either the romance or cozy mystery genre, by the way–but so far I haven’t had a lot of time to spend on it.

One thing I can say about my multiples is that there is some degree of consistency about them. All my mysteries contain some romance, and all my romance novels contain some mystery or suspense.

And so far I’m still me. I write for both publishers under my real name: Linda O. Johnston. I’ve been pondering what to use as a pseudonym someday, though. Would I do that? Sure! I feel sometimes like I’ve got more than one writing personality, so why not give some of them a different name?

What about you? Do you like to read in more than one genre? And if you’re a writer, do you write in more than one genre? Or do you have other kinds of multiples in your life?

Linda O. Johnston

Linda O. Johnston

Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, currently writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Her stories include the upcoming Shelter of Secrets miniseries and the K-9 Ranch Rescue miniseries, as well as stories for the HRS ongoing Colton series. She also writes mysteries, which have included the Barkery & Biscuits Mystery Series and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Pet Rescue Mystery Series and Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime---with more to come. And nearly all her current stories involve dogs.

https://www.lindaojohnston.com

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