Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 71

Wicked Wednesday – What does having nine lives really mean?

It’s the final Wednesday in May, and we’re wrapping up our nine-lives conversation. A Google search of ‘nine lives’ reveals a plethora of things tied to this phrase: a cat food brand, animal rescue organizations, a wine company, book titles, even a board game.

For me, hearing that someone had nine lives meant not only were they exceptionally world-savvy, but also really lucky – that they had evaded danger or even death, and were almost like superhero in my mind. The scrappy people who keep coming back bigger and better no matter what life throws at them!

So Wickeds, when you hear the phrase nine lives, what do you think of (besides super-smart cats)?

 Julie: When I hear the phrase “nine lives” I think of people who keep coming back from the brink and recreate their lives. Sometimes they are people I admire, sometimes they aren’t. People who live nine lives don’t let things stop them from moving forward. I think of it less as luck, and more as determination meeting opportunity.

Jessie: I love your take on it, Julie! For me, it is in the realm of magical thinking. It seems like being born under a lucky star or in possession of graces gifted at the cradle by the fairies. I love the notion of nine lives, but I find myself subscribing to the belief that each of us has a path and that there are just some bullets one cannot dodge and others that you absolutely can. I am not sure the number is nine!

Barb: To me, “nine lives” means the endless possibility of renewal. I often refer to my writing career as my “second act,” but truly it must be the fifth or the sixth. My life as a grandmother brings me endless pleasure–that I never could have foreseen when my own children were young or before they existed at all. I’m still me, but the lives keep rolling on.

Sherry: Great takes on nine lives! Some people believe there are nine phases of life from infancy to dying. But I like to think of it as our metamorphosis–our ability to change and adapt to new situations that life presents to us. I know I’ve been through many more than nine and I look forward to many more.

Edith/Maddie: I love all these positive takes on the term, ladies. I confess when Julie mentioned that some who seem to have nine lives aren’t people she admires, I thought of a few despicable politicians who deny or ignore their awful deeds and just keep on going. But let’s get back to the positive! Yes to many careers, landing on the fabulous current one, Barb, and to the many phases of being a parent, each rich in its own way. For me, I’d rather not tote up my lives, for fear I’ll find I’m on #9. One day at a time, kids. That’s all we have.

Readers, what does having nine lives mean to you? Leave us a comment below!

Guest Jackie Ross Flaum: Lowdown Dirty Vote III

Edith/Maddie here, who can’t believe Memorial Day is upon us!

Join me in welcoming Jackie Ross Flaum to the blog. She’s one of the contributors to a new anthology, edited by Mysti Berry, supporting the right to vote, a cornerstone of any democracy.

Low Down Dirty Vote III: The Color of My Vote includes stories of crime and suspense by 22 authors—many award-winners, some publishing for the first time —in a short story anthology on politics and voting issues.

Take it away, Jackie!

The general skullduggery of a voting crime appeals to me since I’m from Kentucky where we take our bourbon neat and our politics anything but.

Crimes like voter suppression or election fraud use fear and illusion—essential tools in a mystery writer’s art. Stir in a healthy dose of eavesdropping as a kid, and the stories beg to be told.

My family wasn’t very politically active, but a certain amount of it was necessary for survival in my neck of the woods. My lead-footed mother had to call the local political boss regularly to have her speeding tickets dismissed. My father joined a particular political party so he could do business with the state. His decision created some tension—my grandmother allowed as how she’d waste no Christian blessing on his new political party until they stopped their thievin’ ways. 

While the issue I wrote about Low Down Dirty Vote VIII:The Color of My Vote is rooted in what I overheard as a child, I did a little modern-day research. This 2015 quote from a former Kentucky magistrate candidate stopped me cold.

 “When it comes to vote buying, it’s an everyday thing. . . It’s pretty much like jaywalking,” he said, mystified that he was in jail.

People whispered those things when I was a child. Nobody said it out loud.

 Right then I knew the color of my vote for Low Down Dirty Vote was green, what character would drive the action, and how it would end. “Threats and Bribes” is set in the 1960s, which I am still horrified to find is considered historical fiction.

Like my story’s heroine, my family griped about politics but turned up every Election Day at a polling place. They taught me the only way to make a change is through voting.

It’s a crime more people don’t feel as my family did.

Maybe America would be better off letting an artificial intelligence robot be our president as Low Down Dirty Vote author Ember Randall’s hero suggests.

This third charitable voting anthology launched last week at a time when our free and fair elections have been undermined in ways nobody would believe if the most skilled crime author wrote them.  

Perhaps the fragile state of our electoral system is another reason to support Low Down Dirty Vote VIII. The sales benefit Democracy Docket, which provides information, opinion, and analysis about voting rights, elections, redistricting, and democracy.

Readers: how do you see mystery writers using their art to promote voting and other forms of democracy?

Historical suspense writer and Malice in Memphis officer Jackie Ross Flaum has written for such anthologies as Mystery, Crime and Mayhem, Now There was a Story, and Elmwood Stories to Die For. In addition to short stories, she has written a novella, The Yellow Fever Revenge, and a novel, Justice Tomorrow, first in the Sterling Brothers Ltd series. Join her on Twitter @jrflaum,  Facebook at WriterJackieRossFlaum, and her website, http://www.jrflaum.com

Double Cover Reveal, plus #giveaway

Edith/Maddie, just back to north of Boston from Cape Cod. I worked really hard writing during my solo retreat, but I also soaked up the sounds, smells, and tastes of the Cape – and took notes, of course, because the next Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery (#6) will be set during May.

Now I’m so excited to present not one but two new covers! Yes, I have a double book release in late September, a true embarrassment of riches . Let’s start with Murder in a Cape Cottage, Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries #4.

Isn’t it pretty? Here’s the blurb: ʼTis the day after Christmas, following a wicked-busy time of year for Mac’s bike shop. It’s just as well her Cozy Capers Book Group’s new pick is a nerve-soothing coloring book mystery, especially when she has last-minute wedding planning to do. But all pre-wedding jitters fade into the background when Mac and her fiancé, Tim, begin a cottage renovation project and open up a wall to find a skeleton—sitting on a stool, dressed in an old-fashioned bridal gown.
 
As Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself. Yet this tale has a modern-day villain still lurking in Mac’s quaint seaside town, ready to make this a murderous New Year’s Eve . . .

Yes, a skeleton in the wall! I’ve always wanted to write a book featuring that kind of decades-old victim and all the mystery surrounding who she was. This story also features a ticking clock. Mac has five days to solve the murder before her New Year’s Eve wedding. Murder in a Cape Cottage releases September 27 and is available for preorder wherever books are sold. Just a reminder – my publisher looks closely at preorders, as one factor to determine if the series should continue. I’d appreciate your preorder if you can swing it.

In addition to Murder in a Cape Cottage, I have “Scarfed Down,” a Country Store Mysteries novella in Christmas Scarf Murder. Including novellas by Carlene O’Connor and Peggy Ehrhart along with mine, the collection also releases on September 27. It has a great cover, too.

Here’s the blurb for my story:

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas at Pans ‘N Pancakes, as twelve days of menu specials dazzle hungry locals. But the festivities go cold the instant a diner dies while knitting a brilliant green scarf. With Aunt Adele tied into a murder investigation, it’s all on Robbie Jordan to find out who’s really been naughty or nice in South Lick, Indiana.

And I happen to have a stack of advance copies of the collection burning up space in my office.

So, readers: What’s your favorite holiday dish, sweet or savory? What about a holiday garment you haul out every year that you might not wear at any other time? I’ll pick three (sorry, US only) to receive a copy of the collection.

Opening lines – remnants of winter

Wickeds, caption the photo below!

Edith/Maddie: Some idiot displayed my lost glove and posted the pic on the damn neighborhood group. If the cops ever put it together with the body somebody’s going to stumble across soon in the shrubbery and test the glove for DNA, I’m dead. Or, rather, long gone to a lovely Caribbean island sipping a rum drink under the name on my new passport.

Julie: The last time she saw that glove it had been on Glen’s hand as he held on to her car door handle, trying to get her to change her mind, come back into the house talk it through. Again. She hadn’t seen it, or him, since. She looked over at the melting snow pile, and wondered what secrets would be revealed if the weather stayed warm for long enough.

Jessie: Every day for months she had passed along the agreed upon route, looking for all the world like any other woman simply out walking her dog. And for months the signal to grab her go bag and run had not appeared. But this morning, there it was, as plain as the power lines rising up on the ridge, the unmistakable sign of the Black Hand Syndicate.

Liz: To anyone else walking by, the glove might’ve seemed like a funny gesture, some happy-go-lucky passerby spotting a sad, lost object and giving it a chance to be found and reclaimed by its owner. But as soon as I saw it, I knew that wasn’t the case. I knew exactly what it meant. She was back. And somehow, she’d found me.

Barb: It took a fair amount of negotiation with bigger boys to make sure he always sat on the right side of the bus. As it rumbled past, he raised his hand to his absent friend, pressing his palm to the cold glass. “I know where you are,” he would say in his head. “But I won’t tell.” Despite the sobbing mother, the frantic father, the broken sister. “You can trust me. I will keep your secret.”

Sherry: The glove was a distraction. The day the orange string showed up told her the hit was on.

Readers, chime in! What’s your caption?

Other Genre Guest – Welcome Back LynDee Walker!

Hey all! Liz here and I’m so excited for today’s Q&A with a favorite friend. LynDee Walker, author of the Nichelle Clark Crime Thrillers and the Faith McClellan series, is here with me today to dish about Faith. Let’s go!

Welcome back, LynDee! Tell us about your Faith McClellan series, for those who haven’t read it yet (and if you haven’t, you should!!). 

Faith McClellan is a modern-day Texas Ranger with a perfect homicide clearance record and a personal mission, itching to shake her ‘new girl’ status—and her famous father’s shadow—and get back to real police work. Eight years in Travis County homicide and two more in the DPS special investigations unit have enabled Faith to deliver answers to 119 victims’ families—answers her own never got—and playing paper courier for her new boss is getting old faster than cold coffee. 

As Faith unravels several high-profile and complex cases, secrets that could destroy lives and relationships in powerful circles are laid bare, and fragments of information lead her closer to the truth about her sister’s decades-old murder. Setting personal demons aside, Faith races to unmask evil hiding in Austin’s most sacred institutions before another victim falls…but the truths she chases are often darker and more dangerous than anyone can imagine.

Faith and Nichelle Clarke are both super strong women – I love them both. They’re both driven, ambitious and very focused on justice. But they’re very different in a lot of ways. Can you talk about how you developed Faith’s character?

Faith started out as a secondary character in a darker, grittier standalone with multiple points of view. That book eventually became Fear No Truth, but the story was originally told mostly through the victim, Tenley Andre, and her mother, Erica. Faith was just the cop poking around trying to find the truth, but when I sent it to my agent he told me the cop was the character he cared most about and he wanted to be in her head and know more about her. So I stripped out most of the other viewpoints and told the story through Faith. In doing that, I got to dig deeper into her. 

I wanted to write about a Ranger because I was fascinated by the history and the mystique of the organization, and in my research I discovered that women weren’t accepted as field officers in the Texas Rangers until Governor Richards signed a law that forced the agency to hire qualified women in 1993. My brain was completely boggled. I was in high school in 1993. The FBI had female agents in the 1930s. Yet to this day there have been fewer than two dozen female Rangers. It was the last true good old boys club in American law enforcement, best I could tell, and I read some horror stories from women who set out to join early on. So I needed to know what could possibly motivate a person to want to go through that when there are so many posts for women at other agencies. I found Faith’s reason in the Rangers’ ownership of Texas’s cold case unit and relationship with the governor’s office.

I know you were a journalist like Nichelle, but I’m curious – did you ever want to be a Texas Ranger?? I wanted to be an FBI agent…

I never wanted to be a peace officer—before I was a reporter I wanted to go to law school and be a district attorney. I suppose my motive was the same though—I wanted to make sure people who were dangerous were removed from society. As a journalist, I covered a couple of cases the Rangers had involvement in, and I was impressed by the officers I dealt with and intrigued by the almost mythical fascination so many people have with the organization. Plus, they do just about everything a crime fiction writer could ever want to write about.

Yeah, journalism is the next best thing to police work I love stories with fraught family dynamics, and Faith’s family definitely has them! Can you talk about that storyline, and how Faith has had to overcome so much from her family of origin? 

It’s always funny to me how some things about new characters develop by way of just shooting out the ends of my fingers as I type. The first time I wrote the scene in Fear No Truth with Faith interviewing Tenley’s friend Nicky in the principal’s office, I knew she was a Ranger and I knew she was interested in Tenley’s death because of something that happened to her sister long ago, and then all of a sudden she was telling Nicky that her father was the former governor of Texas. I didn’t even pause to question it or think about implications, that was just part of who she was. The fact that he wasn’t the most scrupulous politician or anything resembling a good father followed on as I got to know Faith better. 

Chuck and Ruth raised Faith to be pretty to look at, without taking much interest in her beyond that. From strict diets managed by her mother to dozens of pageant titles she cared very little about, her worth was directly tied to her looks for her entire childhood—except by her father’s bodyguard, Archie Baxter, who valued how smart and determined she was and encouraged her to chase her dream of being a peace officer. I flat out adore Archie, as does Faith.

I am having great fun, as we stretch into books 5, 6, and 7, with exploring the changing (dare I say improving?) relationship Faith has with her mother. My mom and I were always super close, and it’s been really interesting for me as a writer to see inside a relationship different than the one I experienced, and find a way for them to grow to respect one another as adults.

I love that – fascinating. And I love when family dynamics just happen during the writing process! So what’s next for Faith and Nichelle?

I’m super excited to have books in both series due out this summer! Dangerous Intent is the ninth Nichelle Clarke novel, which finds Nichelle’s attention torn between investigating the execution-style murders of hate group leaders and helping an old friend. It is my first co-written project, and Laura Muse brought great insight and life to the new characters we created for Nichelle’s world. Dangerous Intent launches on June 14.

The days leading up to Faith’s wedding are supposed to be easy at work, until she stumbles across a real body during a training exercise that may—or may not—be the work of a particularly ghoulish serial killer. With a dead end lurking around every corner, Faith and Graham work to unravel a complicated case and locate a killer before their big day. No Love Lost launches July 27!

Awesome! Thanks so much for joining us, LynDee – I can’t wait for both these books. Readers, what do you love best about LynDee’s books?

Wicked Wednesday – Survival Skills

Hey readers – Liz here with another nine-lives themed Wicked Wednesday.

Nine lives has always been associated with cats. While we know that isn’t technically true (yeah, sadly, it’s a myth), they do have exceptional survival skills. So Wickeds, which real or fictional person do you admire for his/her survival skills and why?

Julie: Mrs. Pollifax jumps to mind. I do so love those books. She’s in her 60’s when the series starts, and decides to join the CIA to find purpose in her life. Her only survival skills at the beginning are her wits, and her ability to make connections where there seemingly are none. By the end of the series she’s a brown belt in karate, and has several other survival skills, but her special skills remain unique.

Edith/Maddie: There are so many astonishingly brave real women who have risked death over and over, for women’s rights, in war, in everyday life. But I’ll stick to crime fiction and pick Molly Murphy from Rhys Bowen’s long-running series. Molly flees to New York City in the early 1900s from Ireland, thinking she’d killed a man. She’s determined to be come a private investigator. She succeeds, and is still investigating, solving crimes, and getting into – and out of – jams despite being married to a policeman and being a mother.

Jessie: I have mentioned her before here, but for me she is the perfect example of survivorship is Victoria Woodhull. She found her way out of a difficult childhood, a terrible marriage, poverty, jail, and the expectations and limitations placed on women during her era. She was a complex person and one I find utterly fascinating.

Liz: Since I’ve been watching the new Bosch Legacy, I have to say I’m back on a Harry Bosch kick. I love everything about him, and Titus Welliver on the show is probably the best Bosch they could’ve given us to fit the character. Every time I think “there’s no way he’s getting out of this one” – he does. Love him.

Sherry: Liz, I love all the Bosch books and shows. I love Honey Chandler in the shows too, she’s tough, smart, and and overcomes obstacles. Lizbeth Salander in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo books is also one tough cookie–flawed and smart.

Barb: We just finished the Bosch Legacy series and now are watching The Lincoln Lawyer, so we are really on a Michael Connelly kick, too. For survivors, I think of Ree in Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. The book brilliantly describes what it takes for a teenage girl not only to survive every day in the face of grinding rural poverty and the adult dysfunction it causes, but then throws her into a life and death situation in a desperate attempt to protect her younger siblings from a life much worse than the one they are already living. I loved this book.

Readers, who’s your favorite survivor?

Our May reading list

Hi Wickeds! We haven’t talked about what we’re reading in a while. What books are on your spring (almost summer – yay!) reading list?

Edith/Maddie: I’m doing some research reading about 1920s Boston via fiction, most recently Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, Dennis Lehane’s Live by Night, and The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron. I also finished Agatha-nominated Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge and have this year’s YA/Children’s Agatha winner, Alan Orloff’s I Play One on TV, waiting in the wings. I’m saving Annette Dashofy’s newest Zoe Chambers mystery, Fatal Reunion, for a delicious uninterrupted Sunday soon!

Julie: I have a wonderful TBR pile. Edwin Hill’s The Secrets We Share, an ARC of Sandra Wong’s In the Dark We Forget, Alex Segura’s Secret Identity, and Sujata Massey’s The Bombay Prince. I suspect I will continue exploring the audio book possibilities as well–I love finding new series to listen to.

Jessie: I love this sort of post, Liz because I love getting new reading suggestions from all of you! I am currently reading The Body- A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson. It is so fascinating! And I am most of the way through Illuminations by Mary Sharratt which is a historical novel about the life of Hildegard of Bingen, a powerful woman far ahead of her time in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. Next up for non-fiction is The Species Seekers by Richard Conniff, which explores the explorers who traversed the globe in search of unfamiliar plants and animals. My next novel to read is The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna which is set in Croatia.

Barb: I have the honor of interviewing Katherine Hall Page at the Maine Crime Wave on June 11, where she’ll receive the Maine CrimeMaster Award. So I am reading or rereading several of her delightful books.

Sherry: I just finished reading Find You First by Linwood Barclay and They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall. Both are chilling. The rest of my list is almost identical to Julie’s! Plus, Spook Street by Mick Herron. I bought the first book in the series for my husband last summer. He’s read them all and I’m reading through them.

Liz: I love all these, girls! Julie, Edwin’s book is on my list too. I just finished Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger – SO GOOD! Of course, I’ve got a few books going at once. I’m reading Content, Inc. by Joe Pulizzi, and listening to The Match by Harlan Coben.

Readers, what’s on your spring reading list? Give us some more to add to our TBRs!

Retreat!

Jessie: On a writing retreat on the coast of Maine

One of my favorite things in the world to do is to head off to the beach for a writing retreat. I love the experience of being away from the responsibilities, routines, and expectations of my ordinary life in order to make room for whichever ideas and stories might care to grace me with their presence. Each time I prepare in a similar way. I make a list of the things I need to do before leaving like setting my email to vacation mode, preparing anything that needs to be taken to the post office, and gassing up my car.

Then I make a list of the things I need to pack for actually writing. I always take a notebook for the novel I am working on, a selection of freshly-filled fountain pens, headphones and a charger, sticky notes in a variety of colors, and my planner. I also make a list of personal items like coffee, clothes, at least one knitting project, running shoes, my Kindle. And, of course, I make a packing list for my faithful assistant and constant companion, Sam, the Poodle: treats, a bed, two or three favorite toys, and kibble.

I try to head out early, hopefully on a sunny day. The drive takes no more than an hour, but as I crest the top of the hill at the only stoplight in town I feel as though I am a world away. There, just ahead, is the sea, blue and thrumming. I turn onto my street and then pull into the drive, eager to throw open all the windows in the house to let in the salt air. Sam and I race round the small house, making sure all is the way it was when last we were here. I cart in my kit and caboodle and then, without fail we make our way to the beach for a wander.

In short order, the ocean works its magic and I feel the ideas begin to flow. We head back to the house and I usually make myself a coffee to carry to the front porch which houses my office. Sam springs onto the rattan settee where he can keep a close eye on the goings-on along the street whilst a sea breeze ruffles his ears. I dig out my notebook, settle beside him and begin to ponder. Even though the worlds I write about are far from my spot on the porch they feel closer than ever. If my luck holds and history repeats itself I will have another Beryl and Edwina novel called into being in no time at all!

Readers, is there someplace you love to go to clear your mind and get away from the everyday? Writers, do you go on writing retreats or do you prefer to work close to home?

Welcome back, Lynn Cahoon!

Liz here, welcoming Lynn Cahoon back to the blog to talk about writing the Kitchen Witch series. The latest is THREE TAINTED TEAS, about which Kirkus said “This witchy tale is a hoot.” Awesome Lynn! Welcome and take it away!

So why a paranormal cozy mystery? 

I was a Dark Shadows girl. I would run as soon as I got off the bus, swing open the door and sit in front of the television. If there was a commercial, my mom would fill me in on what had already happened. If not, I’d watch and then get the update a few minutes later. It was our thing. That memory still makes me smile. Mom’s been gone six years now, but those afternoons of watching Dark Shadows together is one of my favorite memories.  

But my love of paranormal started in second grade. With a story told in verse. Mark was in the park, in the dark. They went to a lake where there was a shark, but the owl save them and they got away. Not a chilling story by today’s measure, but it’s stayed with me all these years.  

I got the idea for the Kitchen Witch when I was in the hospital during my chemo treatments. I had a fever and went in on a Sunday night. They kept me three days. There wasn’t much on TV, but there was a few hours of Charmed I could watch. Then I could change the channel and watch a couple more on a different station. It kept me sane. But it also put a nugget of a new main character and what type of witch she’d be. 

The Kitchen Witch series is a mix between the Good Witch meets Jessica Fletcher. I try to keep a balance between the magic and the mystery. And of course, there’s a bit of romance. Nothing graphic, but people have relationships in real life and in my books, they have friends and people who are more than friends. And of course, there’s food. 

My main character, Mia opened her catering business in the first book, ONE POISON PIE, but in a small town, she had to do more. Even though Magic Springs is an upscale small town, a lot of business have to have more than one specialty to keep the doors open. So she caters, teaches cooking classes, delivers home meals, has food on site for drop ins to pick up, and, in this book, she tries her hand at wedding planning. 

What could go wrong?  

Comment below with what job you’d like to do if you could start over with your career. Or maybe what job you had that you loved or still love. Or just say hi. One random winner will be chosen to get a signed print copy of THREE TAINTED TEAS. (Non-US mailing addresses will win a digital replacement of a similar item.) 

Here’s a blurb about Three Tainted Teas (Kitchen Witch #3)

Aspiring witch and culinary entrepreneur, Mia Malone, must dispel a deadly plot to wreck her clients’ wedding in this charming continuation of New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon’s Kitchen Witch Mystery series.
 
Business is bubbling at Mia’s catering service and cooking school, Mia’s Morsels, but toil and trouble are not far behind. Mia just accepted her toughest gig yet: last-minute wedding planner for Magic Springs’ own Romeo and Juliet. Though the small town is fairly accepting of magic, two families have been locked in a vicious feud spanning generations. Unfortunately for both families, they’re about to become in-laws! Amethyst and Tok are excited to wed in a few weeks and somehow Mia must ensure the event is flawless.
 
But when she goes to pick up paperwork from the couple’s previous wedding planner, Mia discovers the woman murdered in an apparent attempt to stop the contentious union. Now, not only is Mia a prime suspect, as the new planner she may also be the killer’s next target. Backed by her squad, her charms—literal and figurative—and a protective amulet from her Grans, it’s up to Mia to save the star-crossed couple’s wedding, her professional reputation…and maybe even her life!

Lynn Cahoon is a NYT and USA Today author of the best-selling Tourist Trap, Kitchen Witch, Cat Latimer, Farm-to-Fork, and soon to release, Survivors’ Book Club mystery series. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride. Find out more at her website http://www.lynncahoon.com. You can find Lynn at http://lynncahoon.com/ or on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Perchance to Dream

by Julie, on retreat

I have a significant birthday coming up in a few weeks, and have been looking for a way to celebrate. As with most big birthdays, I’m also taking the ramp up time to reflect. And, perchance to dream. I have much to celebrate. But I’m also thinking about this next decade, and what I’d like to accomplish.

Staying healthy, first and foremost. Getting in shape, eating well, keeping on top of any health issues that come up.

Having more adventures. For me, that means traveling. My list of places I want to go is long. I also want to try new things, within reason. I’m not going to climb Mt. Everest. But ziplining? I’d like to try that.

Challenging myself creatively. I know I can write books–my tenth will be out this summer. But how can I challenge myself? What does that look like? A new genre? Multiple points of view? A new series?

A few months ago I was scrolling on Instagram and saw that Jess Lourey, a writer I greatly admire, was offering a writing retreat in Italy. I wrote to her, and asked some questions. Long story short, my early birthday present to myself is a trip to Italy, with my very rough draft of a new and ambitious project, to go on a writing retreat with a dozen other writers. This trip will see me walking a lot and eating well, traveling and exploring, and having a creative reboot. In other words, a perfect way to start this new decade. My cats and house are being sat, and all I need to do is not get lost in Rome, and meet up with the group in time to get to Tuscany.

Readers, how do you mark significant times in your life? Do you use these times to reflect, perchance to dream, on what’s next? I look forward to reading your comments–once I’m back.