What I’m Working On:
The draft of my next new novel is complete. It was a whirlwind to get it written while marketing Unforgiveable, but so worth it. This new story will span a few several novels. I do love the new world and the characters in it and cannot wait to share it with you. The best part of creating a new novel is discovering what happens to the people as the story progresses. No matter how much I might plot, there are always unanticipated twists and turns. I will share more as editing progresses.
Books By My Bedside:
The winding story threads within a novel by John Crowley always transport me to a different world. Sometimes the words, the phrases, the meaning of his writing force me to slow down and read the glorious passages again and again. It is yet another of the biggest examples of an unfair world that he is losing his ability to write a full-length book as he ages. Little, Big was the first novel of his that I came across. I still pull it out when inspiration strikes to open it to a random page. It seems no matter which page I pick, the perfect prose leads to a perusal of the Oxford English Dictionary. Right now I am working through Aegypt. No telling how long I will sit with it before I am ready to stop rereading and put it away.
Here is a list of other delights I discovered this month:
- The Midnight Bookshop by A. James
- The Serviceberry by R. W. Kimmerer
- Dr. No by P. Everett
- Adora and the Distance by M. Bernardin
- Greenteeth by M O’Neill
- The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs by R. Black
Life in the Bungalow:
The elderberries ripened at the end of summer, so I spent a couple of weekends making syrup and canning. I made the mistake of reading a magazine article with instructions for making elder jelly. Jellies are the bane of my existence, and I am half convinced that those packets of Sure-Jell must have nothing but sugar in them. Ever optimistic, I gave it a whirl and, you guessed it, ended up with slightly thicker elderberry syrup. Ahh well, I will try again next year.
The racoon tribe is frequenting our garden again this year, helping themselves to tomatoes and teeny tiny baby pumpkins and squash. So, we pick the tomatoes green and ripen them in the kitchen. There is not much that can be done to deter a raccoon pack. Long ago I had a wonderful lab mix who fearlessly treed masked yard bandits when they held midnight feasts in our vegetable patch. My current dog is about half the weight of a raccoon and fearful of everything from water to grass. I suppose it is a fortunate preservation instinct given her size.
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