Yeah, it’s been two and a half years since I have actively posted a blog on this page. A lot of big, dramatic things have happened to me in the last three years. It’s only now that the dust has settled. Unfortunately, it is likely to get disrupted again—soon.
So anyway, here’s what happened in bullet form—
1) I went to Bouchercon2016 and then to a writer’s workshop with the intent of getting an agent. I was close to being done. The workshop was unpleasant, except for the people I met. I am not sure it was helpful, except for defining what I am not. An agent agreed to look at my work, but she took forever to get back to me. Just as well given everything else.
2) Two days before Thanksgiving, the hospital in San Angelo calls. I find out my mother is in the ICU. It’s not good. Two days later, my husband and I are on our way to TX. Tip—if you have to fly at this time, fly on Thanksgiving Day. Still crowded, but not awful. We get to Dallas whence we drive to San Angelo. We have Thanksgiving dinner in a Denny’s in Cisco. It tasted pretty good, and I’m glad they were there.
3) I have to put my mother in hospice care. It’s a mess and incompetently handled. I get her a new doctor the night she dies, 2 weeks before Christmas. I was with her when she died. That was good. Christmas sucked. Worst one I can remember.
4) Thank God for my lawyer. Thank God for my friends. Thank God for my husband. It took another two months before all the inheritance was done and dusted, the house cleaned out and ready to go on the market. It sold in April 2107, but I was back in MD in mid-February.
5) We did a major renovation on the hosue. Kitchen and bathrooms. No sooner than that was done then we found that my husband’s job was transferring to CT. He designed that kithen for me with glass-fronted cabinets to display my teapot collection—which is now in danger, in 2019, of being soid because it’s just taking up space in the base, still unpacked. It takes a year for this transfer to happen. The anger I feel at this foot-dragging corporate incompetence burns brightly still.
6) At the same time, I injured my back. It’s permanent and degenerative and hurt terribly during the move. There is always an emotional component to an injury. Tip as a writer—find that emotional component and exploit it. Pain makes a person selfish.
7) We have finished most of the repairs to this house in CT. This might be the first month where we’ve not had to replace or repair something. My back is better, and I am not in pain. But winter is cold, grey, and long. Everything expensive, more expensive than in the greater DC area. Nobody is particularly friendly. There is nobody to play with. The corporation my husband works for is not in great financial shape. Overall, it’s been dispiriting in the extreme. Can I use it in my writing? Of course. Everything is fodder.