A winter in Connecticut.
This has been a busy month. I was fortunate to spend a week at my mother’s home in Connecticut. After a harrowing drive in a blizzard from the airport to her house, a drive that should have taken 90 minutes but instead took 4.5 hours, I made it safely to my childhood home. Thought process during the white-knuckled experience: “Well, we’re only going around 5 miles per hour in icy, snowy conditions, plus it’s dark, so when I wreck — not if — I won’t get killed.” I didn’t wreck, but what an interesting feeling, that of the tires losing all traction.
The next few days of snow and warming temperatures made up for it. I got to visit with my mom and my brothers and sisters and their children. Mom and I took plenty of walks around the lake and I made it into my favorite woods for a wet, slushy, frozen hike. I was content to write at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and completing my rewrite of Bandit Girls. I’m almost done with adding some really good stuff based on feedback from an agent conversation at World Fantasy and a couple of other agent reactions. My goal is to do what Elmore Leonard says is his secret to success: to leave out the parts that readers don’t want to read.
I’m transitioning to another job. After 18 years with a company that went from Internet startup to a department within in a giant international data provider, it was time to go. I’ll miss the old company and my colleagues, but I’m looking forward to the new challenge. A change is as good as a rest. as they say. I’ve had almost the whole month of December to recuperate and re-energize.
On another note, and one that has made it even more difficult to update this blog:
Sadly, tragedy has struck among my circle of friends. A friend and her son were killed by a drunk driver two days after Christmas, leaving her family in unimaginable grief. My heart goes out to the family. I can’t even begin to fathom their sorrow. Kiss your loved ones, hold them tight; wish for better things; in the darkness sense the bright; joy once more to ring.
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