2021

As you can tell from the sparse blog entries, I'm not a blogative person. I don't think my day to day life would prove to be compelling reading, and if it were, I probably would not have the time to blog about it.

But every now and then, I like to reach out and let readers know what I've been up to, and what is next.

2020 was a difficult year for all of us. I'm sure I don't have to explain to anyone about all the things we missed, and the restrictions and cautions that were added to our lives. But for writers there were changes that affected our lives and professions. No conventions. No comic cons. Editors not in their offices. Publishing offices closed. My professional friends are scattered not just across the country, but around the world.

I saw none of them. I didn't travel. I didn't see readers face to face.

I didn't write.

At first I told myself that quarantine would be the perfect time to plunge back into writing. But it wasn't so.

I thrive on isolation. For most of my marriage (50 years now) my husband was on the fishing grounds for about 9 months of the year. After he retired, he started teaching judo, and was gone for close to 40 hours a week doing that. But Covid meant he had to close his dojo. And some of my extended family members came to quarantine in the small guest cottage we have. Suddenly, I was seeing multiple people, dozens of times a day!

I know, you've probably been lonely and this sounds great to you. But for an introvert and someone who craves isolation, this was tough. I was in more day to day contact with people than I had been for years! And they expected me to talk to them!

After all, just because I'm not writing doesn't mean I'm not writing. I might be thinning the carrots, but I'm also getting the dialogue that I'll write at eleven that night. Except that character dialogue evaporates when I have to talk to people. And the television on in evening is not my writing friend.

I renewed my belief that cooking delicious home made meals is not only tedious, but just manufactures mounds of dirty dishes and sinks full of pans to scrub.

So, rough outlines for two different novels dangled into ragged shreds. And for months I stopped reading. It was hard to focus on stories. I checked out audio books that I didn't listen to.

It took a lot of grinding of gears, but I did find a new rhythm to my life.

So what did I do in 2020? There was some wonderful stuff. I grew a big garden and did home preservation of food like a deranged squirrel. I took walks with my dogs. I coerced my young grandson into reading out loud to me for 20 minutes a day. In September, I took over helping him with his on line schooling for 3 days a week so his parents could be back to work. Midway through the year, I began to write and sell short stories again, as Megan Lindholm. And Megan Lindholm saw Wizard of the Pigeons come back into print in the US for the first time in 35 years. Tommy Arnold did an amazing job with the illustrations for the Grim Oak edition. I also enjoyed working with an old friend, Magali Villeneuve, to see the Illustrated Editions of Royal Assassin come into being. And Folio brought out a glorious boxed set of The Farseer Trilogy. I made visits to both Grim Oak's warehouse (otherwise known as Shawn's garage) and University Book Store in Seattle. Suitably masked and distanced, I signed and dedicated a lot of books for them to send out to readers.

And now here we are in 2021.

I don't make resolutions, but I have hopes.

I want to read 100 pages a day.
Lindholm needs to finish that novel, and the half done short story.
Hobb needs to make some tough decisions. To Bee or not to Bee.
I will continue to sign and dedicate books a University Book Store and for Grim Oak Press.
I need to kick most social media to the curb.
I need to be more physically active. I need to lose the Covid weight.
I need to find more joy in life. I need to give myself space to be a different person as I age.

So, there, a very long blog. That should suffice for the first 6 months of 2021, right?

We used to say, "Have a Good Day." Now we say, "Stay safe."
I wish both for youl