A change of venue

As you know, I've been in and out of town a lot over the last few months - running clandestine errands in another part of the country while being cryptic and annoying over here on this page. But so many things could've fallen through. So many things could've failed to pan out. I felt like I couldn't talk about anything until all was said and done - and now it is.

I expect that the tl;dr crowd is already losing patience with me. All right then, here's the long and short of it: My husband and I have bought a house. It's in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and we'll be moving (back) there around the first week of May.

The reasons are many and varied, not least of all related to money. It's no secret that we've had a difficult time settling down in Seattle; we've lived in three apartments over the last six years, each one seriously problematic in its own way. (Most recently, the Lovecraftian mold/soot creep of uncertain cause and origin - as you may recall.)

But fiction-writing has been kind to me as of late - kind enough that the "let's buy a place" conversations began to occur.

When my husband and I looked in the bank, our savings added up to a minimum down-payment on a mediocre condo here in Seattle ... or ... a huge portion of a restored Victorian back home in Tennessee; and these days, we each earn most of our living through channels which are not place-dependent. So with a lot of soul-searching and number-crunching, we decided to take the plunge.

I expect this raises a few questions.
Let me see if I can head off some of them at the pass.

Yes, my husband (co-)owns a coffee shop here in town. He will continue to own it, and manage it from afar - returning quarterly to handle paperwork and whatnot. I will likely accompany him on some of these visits, because Seattle has treated me well, and I'm not out to abandon the region with a wild cry of, "So long, suckers!" I've accumulated some dear friends, writing buddies, and bookstore connections who I hope to see on a regular basis.

But it's true (and no great secret) that I've found the region difficult at times. I'm a Gulf Coast girl who grew up on the beach, and the Northwest's gloom and dampness have taken their toll.

[understatement] I have not always handled it well. [/understatement]

Travel has been particularly problematic. My entire family is back east. I haven't been home to see my mom in Florida in several years, and I haven't been back to my dad's place in Kentucky in about the same stretch. I've missed weddings and babies. I've come very close to missing funerals.

Now, I realize that more than a few of you are probably thinking, "Chattanooga? Really?" and my response to that is simply, "Yeah, so?" I lived there over a dozen years and liked it just fine - if anything, I didn't realize how comfortable I was until after I left. My husband was born and raised there. The cost of living is low, it's centrally located to a number of other cities, it's pretty as hell, and I have oodles of friends (and relatives) in the area.

And did I mention that I just bought a house which is on the historic registry? Everything else aside, you guys this house. I couldn't buy its equal in Seattle for three times the price. No, literally.

Much as it pains me, I've decided against posting pictures. I've learned the hard way about protecting my privacy in this fashion, but I don't mind telling you that it's damn near perfect. My husband wanted a Craftsman. I wanted a Victorian. I'd hoped to find a late Victorian/early Craftsman for a compromise, and hot damn, I did.* Beautifully restored, in a gorgeous little historic district. I'm about to become one of those daffy southern broads with a porch swing and a bunch of flower baskets.

You just watch me.

Anyway, there you go. That's what the hullabaloo has been about, and that's why I've been running around like a maniac for the last couple of months.

I swear to God, buying a house 2500 miles away is like having a part-time job that's a high-stakes scavenger hunt. Every other day, it seemed, I got a message about how a special magic piece of hard-to-obtain paper needed signing before close-of-business East Coast time or else EVERYTHING WILL FALL APART so RUN RUN RUN LITTLE LADY GET CRACKING.

I'm emotionally and physically exhausted, which won't get fixed quite yet despite this happy resolution - because tomorrow morning, I have to fly to Tucson for a book festival. I like book festivals! I like Tucson! I am looking forward to this event! But I just got back from Tennessee late last night, and I'm so jet-lagged and wiped out that I pray people will cut me a little slack or perhaps serve me a metric ass-load of caffeine when I arrive.

And I still have to do laundry. And re-pack. And run to the bank (yet again), and grab myself some lunch. So I'm going to log off now, and later (probably next week, at this rate) I'll make my Giant Post of Gratitude aimed at some of the folks who helped make this possible.

So thanks to all of you for reading, and lots of love to all ... but it's off to the races for me.


* Yes, I had the ever-living shit inspected out of it.