Pamela Beason's Blog

Yesterday as I was doing the weekly shopping for my cats at their favorite pet food store, I couldn’t help noticing the older man perched on a bench outside the door. His hand was clutched around a paper coffee cup and he rocked back and forth, muttering, “The witching hour is coming…the witching hour is coming!”

I examined him out of the corner of my eye, like we all do with the homeless. He didn’t look like he lived on the streets. His clothes were clean and appropriate for the cool, wet we...

(Some of you may rememberthat I posted on this a year ago, but since then zombie disease has continued to proliferate, so I felt the need to post again.)

A couple of days ago I was out for an evening walk on one of Bellingham’s manytrails. The sunset was beautiful, the air was that perfect temperature and humidity thatfeels soft on bare skin, birds were flitting from tree to tree, blackberries were tantalizingly ripe alongside the trail.

Two small girls, about four and six years old, passed m...

My newest book, Race to Truth, is available today on Kindle and Kobo and will soon be out everywhere.The story is a mix of mystery and adventure as my young character Tanzania Grey returns to her hometown of Bellingham, Washington to participate in an extreme version of the Ski to Sea Relay Race. I wanted to explain why I wrote a lot of the elements that are in the book.

First of all, Ski to Sea–it’s an amazing 90-mile relay race that includes cross-country skiers, snowboarders and downhiller...

I know the New Year is anarbitrary date, but the idea of starting anew with endless possibilities is always exciting for me. I like to take stock of things I did or things that happened to me in the last year. It’s fun to realize thatI livea pretty amazing life.

In 2015, I published my first young adult suspense novel, RACE WITH DANGER. I had great fun writing it, and it is currently a finalist in a nationwide contest. I will have the second book in this trilogycompleted in a month or two.

In...

After begging for it for more than ninemonths now, I finally got the letter from my publisher giving me back my rights to my three Summer Westin mysteries: Endangered, Bear Bait, and Undercurrents. The letter was sent to my agent and called mysecond book Bear Bath, (their reverence for my work is truly overwhelming). But after I quit laughing, I was ready to party at the good news of being cut loose.

No longer being published by a traditional publisherdoes mean that it will be more of a chall...

Lately it seems that no matter where I am—shopping inthe grocery store, riding my bike through the local park, driving to the library—I find a mesmerized human blocking my path. Head bent over a cell phone, this person totally oblivious to other people, cars, wandering deer, fire engines, rampaging pit bulls—in short, anything that is happening in the real world flowing around the paralyzed victim. This is a cell phone zombie.

Yes, the zombie apocalypse is real. And it is spreading like wildf...

An author’s career can hinge on reviews, so we are necessarily obsessed with them. Nothing warms my lonely writer’s heart more than finding a great review forone of my books on a website.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to get fantastic reviews for my indie-pubbed mystery The Only Witness, including two wonderfully flattering ones from Chanticleer Reviews and Publishers Weekly. I haven’t collected many for my Summer Westin series, because my publisher, Berkley Prime Crime, has done nothing to adve...

I love to travel, but I am very lucky to live in a beautiful place thatI don’t have to leave to find adventures.

We’re having an early spring here in the Pacific NW (sorry, NE U.S., I know you’re envious).I’ve been out hiking every weekend in the local Chuckanut Mountains, about 15 minutes from my house. This photo at left is the view of Chuckanut Bay from the beginning of the trail I walked yesterday.

Long ago I read a fantastic book called Your Money or Your Life, all about how to think about...

My New YA Adventure Book

Yes, my new book, Race with Danger, isa bit of a departure for this mystery and romance author. But here’s why I wrote it:

It was fast to write, and these days, you have to publish a lot of books quickly to survive. Young adult books, while dealing with serious subjects, typically don’t have a lot of depth or a lot of description.

Teen books typically have a lot of action–my biggest strength as a writer–and a lot of angst. Race with Danger is written in first person, pre...

For years, I have been working on a list of questions that would quickly reveal someone’s history and personality. Think of it like speed dating. Not everyone will agree to be “grilled,” but it’s a fun and informative activity when someonedoes.

As well as interviewing new acquaintances, these are great questions to ask existingfriends and familytolearn new facts about them.

Here are my current questions:

1. What childhood accomplishment were you most proud of?

Myanswer: Buying my horse. I always...