Lee Hutch's Blog, page 3

Journal of a Pandemic Year: Part Forty-Three

Maria and Anastasia both had birthdays in June.

Dear Readers,

Another week of feeling like I’ve been beaten with baseball bats every second of the day has come and gone. This morning we dropped Aksinia and Olga off at the vet to get spayed. They will no doubt be rather upset with us for the next few days, but I’m sure they will get over it. I have to say, they are a bit of a handful and seem to think that humans are a combination of a play toy and a jungle gym, particularly around 0300. I ...

Journal of a Pandemic Year: Party Forty-Two

Dear Readers,

It’s hard to believe that it has already been a month since the spring semester ended and that we are now halfway through June. I’m teaching during the first summer session, and I had a whole lot of things I needed to get done during the first half of the summer as well, but apart from the teaching, little else has been done. I wonder if I am the only writer who has run into such a stonewall of writing during the pandemic, despite it giving us what we all long for, time at h...

The Don May Be Quiet, But My House Isn’t

Aksinia (L) and Olga (R)

Dear Readers,

I figured this deserved a separate post rather than merely including it in the next Journal of a Pandemic Year entry. Anastasia has been very sad since her brother Autie died a few months ago. In the meantime, my wife and I had been talking about adopting another kitten since Anastasia really likes kittens. In fact, she treats me like I’m her kitten.

On Sunday, the local animal shelter mentioned on their social media page that they are overflowing...

Journal of a Pandemic Year: Part Forty-One

Dear Readers,

The unrelenting back spasms have not let up over the past week, though I am able to get up and move around, albeit slowly. Apart from that, it is icepacks, Netflix, and pills. This current flare up started on Thursday the 3rd, so I ended up being unable to attend the fully vaccinated outdoor reunion that was planned for the following day. Truthfully, I’m not much fun at social events anyway, especially when I am in the middle of writing a book, so I’m sure everyone had plent...

Molly Goes to the Movies…Well, Not Really…But Maybe…

Dear Readers,

The back spasms that laid me low last week have not let up and I’ve been more or less bedridden for the past several days. And, of course, my knee and ankle decided to join in on the party, so I’ve spent a few days encased in icepacks. Such is life, or rather, such is my life.

Molly’s Song is making its way towards the approaching release date of July 29th! Recently, I listened to a whole bunch of audition samples to select a narrator and, as I hoped, I found the perfect...

Journal of a Pandemic Year: Part Forty

Dear Readers,

This is my 40th entry in the Pandemic Year series. I’ve been writing them since March 2020. Sometimes it seems like I’ve aged ten years during the past sixteen months. It has been an eventual week and a half or so, which I will describe herein.

If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy of Molly’s Song, you may do so here, here, or here. And speaking of the book, last week I took auditions for the audiobook version of the novel. I wasn’t quite sure how many to expect, but I got...

Molly’s Playlist

Dear Readers,

As you (eagerly, I hope) await the July 29th release of Molly’s Song, I thought I would put something together for you to fill the days between now and then. As I’ve said before, I write with music playing in the background. As I plot a novel, I also consider songs that evoke the feeling of the book. Since I write historical fiction, some of the songs are obviously period songs from the era in which the book is set, but I also include modern songs that fit with the overall t...

Journal of a Pandemic Year: Part Thirty-Nine

Dear Readers,

As promised in my last pandemic journal entry, this latest entry is a bit more exciting. In case you haven’t seen the news yet, Molly’s Song is available for pre-orders now! You can find the eBook here and the paperback here on Amazon. If Barnes and Noble is more your thing, you can find it here. And, if you like to support independent bookstores as I do, you can find it on Indiebound here. The release date is July 29, 2021. At some point, I hope to be able to offer signed c...

Molly’s Song Book Trailer and Pre-Orders!

Friends,

I am positively chuffed to announce that Molly’s Song is available for pre-orders and to share the book trailer with you! The official release date will be July 29, 2021. I’ll include the book blurb below, but in the meantime, you can pre-order the Kindle version here, you can find the Nook and paperback pre-order here, and if you live across the pond, Amazon UK has the kindle pre-order here and the paperback pre-order here. As an added bonus, if you have not yet had the oppor...

Journal of a Pandemic Year: Part Thirty-Eight

Dear Readers,

Another week done gone. It was a rather slow week for me, marked only by a regularly scheduled doctor appointment on Friday. Next week will be a little busier as I have two CT scans on Tuesday, a doctor appointment on Thursday, a doctor appointment on Friday, and on Saturday I am attending an Air Force commissioning ceremony at a nearby university. I’m sure my next entry will be more exciting than this one for those reasons.

I’m still waiting to find out when the release ...