Ten Years ago this month, I wrote my first blog post and published my first novel, Maids of Misfortune. I was also anticipating the birth of my first grandchild and about to turn sixty. Over all, a season of new beginnings.

At the time, the self-publishing industry was in its infancy, and I had no idea whether or not anyone would ever read my blog or my book. But I had written the first draft of that book thirty years earlier, and just knowing that someone, other than my writers group and close friends, would finally get to meet Annie, the pretend clairvoyant, Nate Dawson, the handsome local lawyer, Dandy, the Boston Terrier, and all the other O’Farrell Street boardinghouse residents was enough. My plan, however, was to follow up that first book with a series of mysteries that would feature the occupations that women held in Victorian San Francisco.

Fast forward ten years, and I not only have written six books, three novellas, and five short stories in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, but I have also helped create a multi-author science fiction series, the Paradisi Chronicles, in which I have written three novels and a short story and co-written a novella with my daughter.

Counting both series, over a million and a half of these works are in the hands of readers––readers whose positive responses keep me motivated every day to keep telling those stories.

During these ten years, I have also made wonderful friends among the global indie author community, learned all sorts of new tech skills, and challenged my intellect as I continued to do research into late 19th century history for my mystery series and learned about wormholes, emdrive technology, space elevators, and interstellar travel for my science fiction series.

As a result, I get up every day, excited to hear from fans, read the facebook and blog posts of fellow writers, try out new marketing approaches, do a little research into such fun topics as how many homes in 1882 San Francisco already had telephone lines. Best of all, I get to spend my day writing down the stories in my head, knowing that there are people out there waiting to read or hear those stories.

And, I look forward to spending the next ten years doing more of the same. Right now, I have a novella in the science fiction universe half-written, and I am 63,000 words along in Lethal Remedies, the seventh full-length book in my Victorian San Francisco mystery series.

In short, this is a very happy anniversary, and I hope you will all enjoy the latest short story, which I just published this week. It is now available as an ebook everywhere, and it will soon come out as an audiobook.

Beatrice O’Rourke, the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse cook, has the afternoon off.  What could possibly go wrong?

This short story in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series features one of the most beloved characters in the series, as well as giving the reader a tour of the boardinghouse itself. Chronologically, this story come soon after the events in Scholarly Pursuits, so if you don’t like spoilers, you might want to wait to read it until you have finished that book.

Now available at 99 cents on Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

M. Louisa Locke, December 6, 2019