Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 147

Jane Darrowfield Released and a #giveaway!

The triple release launch party continues! To celebrate, I’m giving away a Snowden Family Clambake tote bag, a Kensington notebook, and a copy of Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody to one lucky commenter below.

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Jane Darrowfield is my homage to Jane Marple. In bringing Jane into the twenty-first century and moving her to America I made a series of decisions.

Jane would be divorced, not never married.Jane would have learned everything she needs to know about life in the bowels of Corporate America, and not in the village where she resides.Jane would get paid for her efforts. She’s making a valuable contribution, improving people’s lives, and that deserves to be recognized by the way we keep score in our culture.Old wouldn’t be so old. Though Jane has taken (a slightly early) retirement, she does not think of herself as old and nor do her friends. Of course, sometimes she does take advantage of the invisibility that late middle-age can confer on a woman, but usually she’s pretty confident and straight ahead. Her knees may hurt when she gardens and she’s trying to get used to the trifocals her optometrist has talked her into, but she’s still out there pitching.

I hope you enjoy Jane as a character and want to follow her adventures. I’ve just signed a contract for book 2 in the series, so Jane will go on.

Bonus reading:

A Day in the Life — Jane Darrowfield at Dru’s Book MusingsAn Interview With Author Barbara Ross by E. B. Davis

Readers: How do you react to my description of Jane? Intrigued or wary? Leave a comment below for a chance to win.

Leopards and Other Quirky Characters

By Liz, happy to be sharing release week with Barb and Edith/Maddie!

Hey readers! We’re still celebrating our triple release week, and I’m so happy Tell Tail Heart has made its way into the world.

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This book was a lot of fun for me because one of my supporting characters has a starring role. For those who’ve read the series, I’m talking about Leopard Man.

Leopard Man is a Daybreak Island long-timer, someone who was on the island when Maddie, my protagonist was a child. He is what she refers to as Daybreak’s “very own quirky character,” who dresses from head to toe in leopard print garb, including a tail, and speaks only in Shakespeare. He’s endearing to the residents and he’s friends with Grandpa Leo, and Maddie is willing to take his eccentricities at face value for the sake of the mystique. He has no known address–something that becomes important in the book–and most residents think he is homeless. There are a lot of rumors about whether he’s mentally ill, or just eccentric.

What you may not know is that Leopard Man is based on a real person. In one of my old neighborhoods, there was a man who dressed in complete leopard print garb, including boots that looked a lot like these:

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And yes, he wore a tail on good days. He was quite the sight to behold, strolling down Main Street with his leopard fedora, giant furry leopard coat, matching pants, boots, and tail. But the real-life Leopard Man wasn’t as happy-go-lucky as my fictional guy.

He was one of the town’s homeless population, and he had a lot of other problems. The town cops were on a first-name basis with him, and not in a good way. The rumor was that he had family, but they had disowned him. He was actually a topic of conversation at my Citizen’s Police Academy the night they covered community outreach.

The story was sad, for sure. But I saw an opportunity to not only develop an interesting character out of a real-life person, but also to try and dispel the notion that all homeless people should be lumped into one bucket and written off. By giving my Leopard Man a different story, I hope people will stop and look twice when they notice a neighborhood “quirky character.” And maybe even stop to hear their story.

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Readers, do you have any quirky characters in your world? Tell us about them below–I’ll give one commenter a copy of Tell Tail Heart.

Wicked Wednesday: Good Things Come in 3s Edition

Here at Wicked Authors World Headquarters, we’re still celebrating yesterday’s triple release. That’s right, three books by Wicked Authors offered for your reading pleasure.

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Tell us, Wickeds, what other good things come in threes?

Julie: First of all, HUGE congratulations to Cate/Liz, Barb and Maddie/Edith! I can’t wait to read all three of these books. So happy for all three of you! This may be the Irish in me, but I always think of the dark side of threes. When two people die, for example, we wait for #3. (How many of you thought of that?) But on the happier side, I’ve found that good fortune comes in threes. Also, excellent desserts have three components. Ice cream, sauce, whipped cream for example.

Jessie: How delightful that three Wickeds share a book birthday! New releases are always good news but I am pleased as punch that three times the fun is at hand! As to the question, three wishes from a genie come immediately to mind. On the writing front a book is not complete without a beginning, a middle and an end.

Edith/Maddie: Thank you, dear Wickeds! What a delight to be releasing at the same time as two of my favorite people. Let’s see, the third time is the charm, right? Certain stools have three legs. And personally, I never sneeze just twice. A third achoo is always waiting in the wings. Julie, I never heard about waiting for a third person to die. You gave me shivers with that.

Liz: Thank you guys! So fun – I love when we can release books together. And Edith, I can’t believe you never heard of that! I grew up with that ingrained in my brain. Also, I think of a three-ring circus, or the Three Stooges…can’t help it.

Sherry: Oh, Julie — you are right and I’m guessing these three books have three deaths! Love the three-ring circus, but even though I watched the Three Stooges I never really liked them. Can I call in sick this week and just read these three books? More threes — trilogies! Lovely books in threes. Although three isn’t always enough is it?! Oh, and love triangles that readers have love/hate relationships with!

Barb: I have to admit, deaths coming in threes was my first thought, too! But now that you all have given such delightful examples…Let’s think about stories. Three Little Pigs. Three Blind Mice. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I love the use of three in all kinds of stories.

Readers: What do you think of when you think of things that come in threes?

It’s a Wicked Triple Release!

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All week long we’ll be celebrating the release of three cozy mysteries by Wicked Authors.

Edith (Maddie Day) kicked us off yesterday with her post and giveaway for Strangled Eggs and Ham.
Liz (Cate Conte) is up Thursday with Tell Tail Heart.
I’ll be posting Friday about Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody .

It’s the first time three of our books have launched on the same day and we’re Wicked excited. Please join us in the celebration!

Strangled Eggs and Ham (A Country Store Mystery Book 6)
[image error]Robbie Jordan’s rustic country store is growing in popularity. But when a dead body appears, it turns out that Robbie’s home-style cooking attracts hungry customers—and murder!
 
While Robbie scrambles through breakfast orders for her expanding clientele at Pans ‘N Pancakes, tempers run as high as the sticky August heat in South Lick, Indiana. Real-estate developer Fiona Closs plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County, and not everyone can see the sunny side of the imposing proposition—including Robbie’s furious Aunt Adele, who doesn’t waste a minute concocting protests and road blockades. When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie ditches the griddle to catch the killer. But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . . 
 

The Tell Tail Heart (Cat Cafe Mystery Series Book 3)

[image error]Welcome back to the charming New England coast, where Maddie James’s cat caf é is at risk of becoming a crime scene for the purrfect murder. . .

Maddie is hoping to have some downtime during Daybreak Island’s off-season to tackle her to-do list. Her grandfather’s house-turned-cat-café is under construction and she’s also scoping out places to open a juice bar on the island. On top of that, her relationship with adorable dog groomer Lucas has taken a pawsitive turn.

But easy is getting harder every day for Maddie, especially when a big-name writer who’s on the island working on a new project winds up floating in the canal. This, on the exact same day an eccentric woman shows up at the cafe claiming Maddie’s cat, JJ, is hers.

As the investigation into the dead writer picks up, Maddie realizes that even the neighbors she’s known all her life might be keeping secrets that go deep into the heart of this small seaside town. Meanwhile, a killer remains at-large…and on the prowl.

 

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody (Jane Darrowfield Book 1)

[image error]Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . .

After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club—and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts—that she’s the go-to girl for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment—the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.

It seems she might make some progress—until one of the aging “popular kids” is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane’s on course to find out whodunit . . .

Readers: Tell us about something you’re celebrating!
 

Book Release Week!

Edith here, delighted to be releasing a new book tomorrow on the same day as Wickeds Barb and Liz (mine is written as Maddie Day and Liz’s as Cate Conte). You’ll be hearing about our books here and elsewhere all week. Please check out all the blogs I’ll be visiting or have visited in this release season, many of which offer a chance to win a book. Link is on this page. And I’ll give away a copy to one commenter here, too.

I knew I wanted to set one of my Country Store Mysteries in August. I lived in southern Indiana a few decades ago. This southern California girl was used to super hot weather, but it always came with low humidity. I’d never before lived in a place where the air became a swamp for part of the summer.

I lived in the southern Midwest a long time ago, though, so I thought I’d better check my memory. Nashville, Indiana is the county seat for where I’ve plunked down my fictional town of South Lick.

[image error]Graphics from weatherspark.com

Yep, pretty hot at the start of August.

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And even more humid.

Unless you live in air conditioning – which, as a doctoral student, I did not – you have to get used to your brain not working well. You take lots of showers. Sleep under a ceiling fan wearing little to nothing. Do lots of laundry. Drink cool drinks and eat cool foods. And move slowly. I found the weather sensual but highly unproductive for mind work (which is why I was there).

Tempers can get a bit steamy in that climate, too, and that’s what happens in Strangled Eggs and Ham.

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Factions of locals are pitted against each other. A visiting lawyer is killed. Robbie Jordan’s Aunt Adele gets in hot water. The oppressive heat and humidity form the backdrop to all of it. As the end of the cover copy reads, “But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . .  “

Readers: I hope you love the book, and Liz’s and Barb’s, too! Where have you lived or visited that had perfect weather you didn’t have to escape from? I’ll send one of you a signed copy of the new book!

Welcome Back, Kaitlyn Dunnett!

[image error]Thanks to Barb and the rest of The Wickeds for inviting me to talk about my new Deadly Edits mystery, Clause & Effect, the second book in a cozy series featuring a retired language arts teacher turned freelance editor as the amateur detective.

Although I enjoy writing about younger characters in my other series, I flat-out love getting into Mikki Lincoln’ss head in this one. Like me, she’s a child of the sixties, with similar memories and experiences to mine but with a much bolder approach to life.

One thing we do have in common is a hesitation to say words like

quasquibicentennial out loud. As Mikki would put it, that’s one that doesn’t come trippingly off the tongue, not without practicing it a few times in front of a mirror.

So what is a quasquibicentennial, you ask? It’s the 225 th anniversary of a place’s founding, in this case the founding of the village of Lenape Hollow, New York. Mikki’s editing skills are needed to turn the pageant performed twenty-five years earlier for the bicentennial into a workable script

for the present-day celebration. She’s reluctant at first to take on the job, rightly suspecting that there will be more to it than a few minor updates.

[image error]Two women she’s known since high school, best pal Darlene and “bane of her teenage existence” Ronnie, join forces to talk her into it. As

Ronnie puts it, “would it kill you to visit the archives” at the local historical society, where the only copy of the original script is housed?

As it turns out, getting involved with the historical society can be deadly. Everyone in town believes the author of the bicentennial pageant left the area just before it was performed, but it turns out that she never even left the building. When her mummified remains are discovered behind a wall, Mikki is left to wonder which member of the society might have put her there.

That’s not just idle curiosity. The more she learns, the more she fears the killer may target her next. Even twenty-five years later, there are secrets someone’s willing to kill for.

I particularly enjoy writing (and reading) novels that involve two mysteries, one in the past and one in the present. Weaving all those diverse threads together is great fun, and so is the research necessary to get the details of the past crime right. In Clause & Effect, I have to admit I also got a

huge kick out of repeatedly using a word that tickles me. Say it with me, everyone: quasquibicentennial!

Readers: Tell us a word you love to say. Or just say hi to Kaitlyn. Whatever works for you.

[image error]With the June 2019 publication of Clause & Effect, Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett will have had sixty books traditionally published. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries and the “Deadly Edits” series as Kaitlyn. As Kathy, her most recent book is a collection of short stories, Different Times, Different Crimes. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com and she maintains a website about women who lived in England between 1485 and 1603 at A Who’s Who of Tudor Women.

Welcome Christin Brecher!

[image error]The Wickeds met Christin Brecher at the Kensington Mini-Con in Cambridge, Massachusetts this April. We’re all excited about Murder’s No Votive Confidence, the debut in Christin’s new Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery series. It releases the same day as Cate Conte’s Tell Tail Heart, Maddie Day’s Strangled Eggs and Ham, and Barbara Ross’s Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. So while you’re visiting your favorite brick and mortar or online retailer, be sure to pick it up!

Take it away, Christin!

MY PLOT TWIST by Christin Brecher

It’s graduation season.  In New York City, where I live, it’s almost impossible to leave the house without seeing someone in cap and gown, with glowing family and friends beside them.  It’s the happiest scene.  Strangers, like myself, call out congratulations.  Proud parents respond with details of the graduate’s achievement.  Rather than roll their eyes at such embarrassing displays of affection, their children smile.  The future is clear for some, unknown for others, but that day is a celebration of a milestone.

A high school friend and I were having lunch on one of these recent days at a restaurant in the very grown-up neighborhood of the East 60s.  We’ve spent years together – laughing, crying, stressing, high-fiving, learning.   As the waiter served us our Burrata salads with grilled lentils, my friend said to me, “If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t have worried so much.”  Then, we laughed. As New Yorkers, it’s an impossible concept. 

On my walk home, however, I remembered a vision I’d had of the future, during the days before my own high school graduation.  In it, I was having lunch with my friend and two other classmates as adults, at a restaurant like the one we’d just left. Each of the women had found success in their chosen field, but I could not “see” my place at the table.  Of course, if someone had told me back then that I’d arrive to our get-together as a mystery writer, I’d have taken my friend’s advice above and not worried so much about where the road might lead me.  The reason is simply because writing the Nantucket Candle Maker Mysteries is a dream come true, but one I discovered well down the road.

[image error]Christin, with a candlestick, on Nantucket…

The series seems like a no-brainer now.  The stories weave together my love of mysteries, of Nantucket, and my admiration of strong women who get the job done while keeping their lives intact.  Writing them, however, was a journey in getting out of my comfort zone. My husband jokes that I’m the kind of person who makes lists for my lists.  I like a map.  What was most delightful about writing these books, however, is that they came about not because I saw myself at the table as a writer, but because they were part of a journey into the unknown. 

After I left a career in the corporate world to raise my kids, I began to write as a personal challenge.  We were living in London at the time.  It was often rainy, we had a fireplace, there was a really lovely garden across the street.  I bought a notebook.  To my surprise, writing became a new passion.  Wherever we moved, whatever chapter came next for us, I brought my notebook with me like a security blanket.  On a practical level, writing was cheap and portable.  On an intellectual level, I had a new challenge every day – a scene, a character, a beginning, middle and end.

Now my kids are heading toward their own high school graduations, and I have three books ready for publication.  Feeling old(-ish) and wise, I tell my kids to welcome these plot twists in life.  And, also, not to worry so much. 

Readers: Have you ever stepped outside of your comfort zone only to find a new talent or passion which has become part of your life?  Is there one on your list you’d like to try?

BIO

[image error]Christin Brecher resides in New York City.  She attended Connecticut College where she studied art history, Italian and theater before pursuing her masters at the Columbia Business School.  She began her career in television production at the A&E Network, HBO and PBS before moving into business development at Time Incorporated.  Murder’s No Votive Confidence, the first of the Nantucket Candle Maker Mysteries, is her debut novel.

MURDER’S NO VOTIVE CONFIDENCE

Nantucket candle store owner Stella Wright specializes in creating unique candles for every occasion. But someone sets the stage for murder when a Memorial Day celebration becomes a wedding to die for . . . 
 
Jessica Sterling’s candlelight-themed nuptials promises to be the perfect kick-off to the summer’s first official holiday weekend. Stella’s thrilled to have been chosen to provide the decorative centerpiece for the wedding ceremony: a two-foot-tall scented unity candle—a symbol of the happy couple’s love. But it looks like the bride-to-be’s uncle won’t be walking his niece down the aisle after he’s found dead. The murder weapon is Stella’s seemingly indestructible candle, now split in two. 
 
When a beloved local bartender is arrested, Stella’s sure a visiting police captain running the case made a rush to justice. With superstitious brides-to-be canceling orders and sales waxing and waning at her store, the Wick & Flameowner decides to do some sleuthing of her own. Abetted by a charming reporter and challenged by the town’s sexiest cop, Stella’s determined to shine a light on the truth and uncover a killer who’s snuffing out her own flame.

LINKS

Website:  christinbrecher.comFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/christinbrecherbooksInstagram:  https://www.instagram.com/christinbrecherbooks/Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Murders-Votive-Confidence-Nantucket-Mystery/dp/149672139X?tag=cbbooks04-20

Wicked Wednesday: What We’re Working On Now

The Wickeds are back from retreat and ready to hit the ground running. So that begs the question: Wickeds, what are you working on now/next?

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Julie: I turned in Garden Squad #3, Digging Up the Remains, on June 1, so I have some space to write. For some complicated reasons, I am going to get A Christmas Peril back online, and I’m also going to look into getting an audio version of the book. I have a thriller that I’ve plotted, and I am going to get the first draft done.

Edith: I can’t wait to read Garden Squad #2 AND #3, Julie! I’m almost done polishing Country Store Mystery #8 (possibly titled The Gingerdead Man), and Quaker Midwife #6 is up next on my writing schedule. I love starting a new book, especially since Rose travels to West Falmouth on Cape Cod in this one. I can’t wait.

Jessie: Julie, I’d love to hear what you discover about audiobooks! And Edith, taking your character to a new place seems like a fun way to keep a series fresh. I’d love to hear if you enjoy doing it that way! As for me, I am noodling up the storyline for the fifth of the Beryl and Edwina Mysteries. I have ideas I just love for books five and six and am not sure which to work on first! I love being spoilt for choice!

Barb: While we were at the retreat, Jessie coached me through plotting Jane Darrowfield #2, tentatively titled Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door, so I am excited to move forward with that. Thank you, Jessie!

Sherry: Barb, I love that title and can’t wait to read the book! And yes dear readers, Julie and I did get Barb to spill most of the plot line. We are in for a treat with this series! I’m continuing to work on From Beer to Eternity. It’s the first book in the Chloe Jackson Redneck Riviera series. The Wickeds gave me some great perspective on the book while we were on retreat.

Edith: That title crushes, Sherry!

Liz: It totally does! I’m still wrapping up Witch Hunt, the first in my new Full Moon series, and I’m working on synopses for more Cat Cafe books. But after that I have a whole summer of productivity planned, from revising a suspense novel that’s been waiting for my attention, to starting a whole new calendaring system that will (hopefully) make my life easier!

Readers: Tell us about a current or future project you’re excited about.

The Detective’s Daughter – Don’t Talk to Strangers

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Kim in Baltimore counting down the days to summer.

 

I am a shy person. Stop laughing, it’s true. I was extremely bashful as a child especially around men. Until I was in the first grade the only men I ever spoke to was my dad, my Pop-Pop, and my Uncle Charles.  When my other uncles or neighborhood men came around I would hide behind Pop-Pop until they went away.

Dad was a man of few words, but enjoyed sharing stories… and photos … of the crimes he helped to solve. He wasn’t a fan of parties or crowded amusement parks and was never really eager to take us to those places. However, he did like to play cards and games especially checkers. Dad worked shift work as a foot patrolman until I entered Kindergarten. It seemed to me we saw less of him when he went on day work than we did when he worked nights.

[image error]Me and my Pop-Pop in our living room.

Pop-Pop worked nights in the warehouse for Pantry Pride. In the morning he would come home and eat breakfast with me then walk me to school. He was my best friend and always willing to go to the movies or the park, or walk to Miss Edna’s store to buy snowballs.

Uncle Charles was my Aunt Betty’s husband and my favorite uncle by far. He was funny and handsome and knew how to do just about anything. He and Auntie came to our house every Saturday afternoon for late lunch after we’d all been shopping at the Cross Street Market. Uncle Charles had a great sense of humor and some memorable lines. When asked about his mother-in-law’s cooking, Uncle Charles exclaimed, “It’ll stick to your ribs… and to the wall if you throw it.” His mother-in-law, my great Aunt Mildred, was not amused.

[image error]My fifth birthday. L-R: Mom, Pop-Pop, Nancy, Uncle Charles and Aunt Betty.

These three men helped to mold my early life  and were protective of me. I knew I could trust and always count on them. I thought I would never need another man in my life… until the day my mom forgot school was closing early. I was a first grader at Holy Cross School and still hadn’t worked myself up to speak to anyone in my class.

Sister Mary Something dismissed us and I wandered outside to discover no one waiting. Neither Mom nor Pop-Pop was outside leaning against the church railing at our meeting spot. I stood and watched as the other children went home. It was the day I decided nuns were scarier than men.

Instead of going back in the school, I walked to the end of the block where the Buchman Brothers had their  men’s clothing store. It was the only place Dad shopped.  The four Buchman brothers were surprised to see me alone in their shop. I gathered my courage and told them I couldn’t find my mother. They immediately sprang into action. After I was given a Coke – a Coke and it wasn’t even Sunday! – one of the brothers found our number and was about to call when a man walked in.

“Problem solved,” said one of the brothers. I sipped from my Coke. “Here’s your cousin Fran. He can run you home.” All  the brothers looked pleased they had solved the problem.

Fran? I didn’t know any man named Fran. It had taken every last nerve I had to speak to these men whom I’d known all my life and saw nearly every Saturday morning.  “No,” I finally said. “I’m not allowed to talk to strangers.”

[image error]L-R: Daddy, me, Pop-Pop, cousin Fran, Mom, and my sister Stacy.

They patted me on the head and told me what a smart girl I was and called my mother. She came full of apologies for being late and I even scored a second Coke. Later that evening my new-found cousin Fran {who was married to my cousin Nancy Norton} came by our house. He wanted to make sure we were properly introduced . By the time I was in second grade I was plotting how to get more soft drinks out of the Buchman Brothers. But that’s a story for another day.

 

So, in this month when we honor our dads and all the special men in our lives, I remember these wonderful, honorable men who I was fortunate enough to have in my life.  I hope each of you have been as fortunate.

 

Dear Reader, Have you ever had a fear you needed to conquer?  Do you have a special dad, grandfather, uncle in your life? Please share your story with me.

 

 

Decisions, Decisions

Jessie: Still in New Hampshire, at least until the school year ends…

[image error]It’s a good thing I think he is cute!

A lot of things about being a writer and the writing process have surprised me over the years. The joy of purposeful creative pursuits, the pleasure of engaging with other writers, the tax write-offs allowed at office supply stores. But one thing I still find I haven’t gotten used to is the decision making.

When you write a book or a short story or even a blog post, there are a lot of decisions involved. There are the over-arching ideas, sub-plots, verb choices and the cadence of the dialogue. There are the plot points, main points and exclamation points. Every single thing requires a decision either large or small.

I turned in a book on June 1, and while I think of myself as a very decisive person, I am still wrung out from the simple act of choosing things again and again in order to complete it. Since then, when I am hungry I find myself staring into the open fridge without the ability to pick something to eat. I didn’t get out of my pajamas all day yesterday simply because I could not make myself select anything else to wear as I peered into my closet.

I thought I had at least managed to make a decision when it came to a new knitting project. I had started a zippy green pair of socks for a dear friend but Sampson, the poodle puppy, got ahold of the first one while it was under construction and not only yanked off most of the stitches but also snapped two of the four required knitting needles. I don’t seem to have any others that same size and cannot for the life of me decide to order a new set.

At the beginning of August the lease is coming due on my car and I have to decide what to choose as a replacement. All I can say is that I sincerely hope I’ve recovered enough by then to make a decision!

Readers, do you have trouble with decisions? Writers, do you get worn out at any part in the writing process? Everyone, any recommendations for a car?