Moving can be hazardous to writing!

Our house in Texas We had a lovely home in the Piney Woods area of Texas (designed and built by my retired architect husband), so why would we decide to sell everything and move?

It turns out that Texas is just too far away from our family, and our beautiful granddaughter got accepted to a performing arts high school program.  She is becoming a talented actress with several lead roles under her belt.  We had to see her in each play, but six days of driving round-trip from Texas became too much. The mountain towns surrounding Asheville, North Carolina enticed us every time we passed through, and we fell in love with the area.   Last October we stopped for a couple of days on one of the trips, and our imaginations were grabbed by a giant monster with yellow eyes--the desire to move.  We loved the local scenery and and cute little towns, so we decided to look at lots the next time we came through.  Surely it wouldn't be difficult to design and build a small house. 

In February of 2019 we spent a full week looking for a reasonably-priced lot that was NOT located up a steep mountain road.  We finally found a neighborhood in Columbus, North Carolina.  We figured that we would have plenty of time before we needed to move, because real estate had been slow in our area of Texas. 

We made an offer on the lot and put our property up for sale.  Our plans for an "easy transition" got accelerated! It only took three weeks to get a good offer and the race began to make our move.  We closed escrow on a piece of land we had been trying to sell for five years and also closed escrow on our house the next day.  Then we had two more weeks to pack up and move to North Carolina.    We needed to find an apartment with a garage large enough to store our extra furniture and live comfortably for a year.  On-line we found a two-bedroom duplex apartment with a large garage and a nice view through giant trees. Our local real estate agent took video and still pictures to help us make the decision.  We didn't have time for another drive. 

After a harrowing drive hauling our furniture, all of our stuff is safely stored in the apartment and it's garage.  My husband is madly designing our new house and taking bids on building the structure.  We broke ground last week and the footers were poured.  Soon the walls and roof will go up and we hope to be "dried-in" before Christmas.  I can imagine opening presents filled with plumbing and lighting fixtures. We also bought antique furniture to turn into bathroom vanities.  (Photos to come.)

We will do the inside finish work ourselves and move in by the first of June.  (We did the same thing when we built in Texas, so that doesn't scare us.)  In the meantime, I am consumed with finding good prices on everything that goes inside the house and keeping the budget in line with our bank account. 

What happened to my writing?  The stories floating inside my head are nudging me to get back to work, and I will do that when I have a spare hour or two.  The characters must realize that all of my mental powers are stretched thin, but they tap their toes in the back of my mind. I have pieces of a science fiction novel already in the computer and the characters in my next mystery novel are whispering to me in my dreams. 

Writing will happen.  

Of course, next month we're planning a quick trip to Virginia to see our granddaughter perform in the lead female role in Little Shop of Horrors, just one year after the whole "let's move" idea germinated. We're anxious to see every performance of our talented teenager.  Now that we live closer, we will definitely do just that.

Watch for updates about my new novels  and more pictures of our new life.  (As soon as I find the box with a cord to upload more pictures from my husband's phone.)