Hearts, flowers and books

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers. Book lovers are the best!

I'm in great spirits today because I just finished the first draft of a new novel. After a couple of marathon writing days, DEADPAN is done. (Well, it's far from done. Months of revisions to come. But it's always a milestone to reach "The End.")

The first draft took six weeks to write, which is pretty typical for me. January and February tend to be good writing months -- cold weather makes me want to stay indoors -- and I often start a new novel with the new year.

I'll let the manuscript "cool" for a couple of weeks, then start the rewrites. I'm already making notes on things I want to change.

Meanwhile, my most recent crime novels are selling briskly as trade paperbacks (and e-books!) at Amazon.com. Two of them, A BOX OF PANDORAS and LOST VEGAS, were mentioned in "Memorable Reads of 2012" this week at the DorothyL mystery community.

You can see all my 25 books by going to www.stevebrewer.us.com. To see the latest ones, use the drop-down menu to select "Publication Date."

Kelly and I tend to stay low-key about Valentine's Day, but we are going out to dinner tonight at a lovely French restaurant. Hope you have a wonderful day!