Happy New Year! to all of you reading my blog
entry. Worry not that I will speak of
resolutions to set for 2017. Skip the
guilt about missed opportunities in 2016.
Let’s have a little fun laying blame on circumstances beyond our control
in 2016 and expect the same with 2017.
This picture is me, my brain exploding at the surprises that hit me in 2016. Here's my Blame Fest:
Foremost: the upending
results of the presidential election. I hadn’t planned on a political focus in
2017, yet already on my calendar is a women’s march Jan. 21. New, as yet, mostly unnamed, activist tasks will turn up on my To Do list and I must put my time and energy into them.
I’d planned on releasing two books a year, which I
successfully accomplished in 2015. Even
though I worked as hard as I could to unveil both Cezanne’s Ghost and Bad Lies
by December 31st, you won’t see them until 2017. What the hell happened? I partly blame the stunning National Parks. The two-month journey my husband and I took to
explore our country’s treasures robbed me of some writing time, and even when I
carved out hours to write, distractions abounded in the tiny hotel rooms: where
to set up the computer, how to keep the light and noise from bugging my
late-sleeping husband; working while my husband watched TV. You get the drift. So many details I couldn’t juggle well.
Way
out-of-control event: My website software wasn’t being supported/updated (dang those iWeb Mac people), so I
had to start from scratch with a new website builder and host. I was astonished how much time and effort
that project took!
My editor’s available time sometimes didn’t jibe
with mine; my beta readers wanted hard copy and the printer I’d taken along on
the trip died, so I had to learn how to make copies at Staples. Worse, my beta reader responses got lost in the mail. What's up with the post office system?
Makes me chuckle about resolutions and goals. So many circumstances beyond our control
throw us curves…we give wry grins, straighten our spines and shoulder on!
So tell me, what blameworthy circumstances upended your 2016
and altered your writing plans? Does
2017 look as challenging to you as it does to me? Whew, thank goodness we’re in this together. Happy 2017!
BAD LIES, coming soon (she said hopefully):
Italy’s haunted caves spell
danger for an American golfer and a NATO geologist
****
Sophie Maxwell is a late-blooming, unorthodox
golfer, and mother of a precocious thirteen year-old. Determined to put divorce, bankruptcy, and a
penchant for gambling in her past, Sophie goes to Italy for a qualifying golf
tournament.
Jack Walker turned his back on a pro golfing career
to become a geologist. As a favor to his
ailing father he’ll caddy for Sophie; off hours, he’ll find caves on the
Mediterranean coast, suitable for NATO listening posts for terrorist activity.
Someone is determined to stop Jack’s underground
hunt and ruin Sophie’s chances to win her tournament.
On a Rome golf course and in the Amalfi coast’s
haunted caves, all the odds are stacked against Sophie and Jack. In their
gamble of a lifetime, who wins?
Six
Suspense Novels Spiked with Romance
