All Over the Map
Edith/Maddie here, luxuriating in full summer north of Boston.
My July has been all over the map, virtually and literally, and it ain’t over yet. The month started out quiet enough. Working on Murder in the Rusty Anchor revisions every morning. Walking, tending my tomato plants, seeing friends, eating salads, and grilling dinners.
The usual early July things. No beach, but around here the biting greenhead flies come out in July and I never go to the beach until the end of the month.
Then the map shifted to coastal Maine, where we rented a cottage in Owl’s Head near Rockland for a week. We did all the Maine things!
Lighthouses, lobster rolls, a boat ride to see puffins, the Wyeth museum, blueberry pie, and more, including reading Barb’s Hidden Beneath on our little patio.
It was a lovely getaway, and I didn’t do a lick of writing.
We got home and life traveled to hell in a handbasket. My back went seriously out. An odd upper-GI thing flared. The impinged nerve in my wrist made itself known, big time. One day I was flat on the couch, worried my writing career was over.
I’m happy to report that with some rest and ibuprofen and a visit to the chiropractor a short walk away, my back is back to normal. The GI thing is clearing. The wrist hurts, but I know how to take care of it. Whew.
Meanwhile the book is STILL due August first and it’s still too short. Gah. I keep massaging it, but I really need a couple new scenes and I can’t figure out which area needs clarifying and deepening and how to work that in. So my work is all over the map, too. And, gentle reader, time is getting short.
But yesterday I got the biggest boost. Some of you might have seen this on Facebook, but here’s what happened. I was volunteering at a local charity yard sale, to which I had donated some of my own books. A shopper asked how much one of my books was. I told her, then I said I wrote it. She was completely, utterly gobsmacked. She kept asking me if I was serious. She said how much she loves my books and cozy mysteries and could we do a photo so she could share it to Instagram and and with the cozy You Tube community. (Of course!) We took a picture, Jeannie bought nine books, and I signed them all. It was such a fun encounter for both of us.
So I’ll keep picking blueberries (yay, more delicious summer things!) from my own bushes, keep eating sweet corn from the local farm, and keep working on the book until it’s due, but with a lift from that chance encounter.
My longtime picking bucket was a pail of my sister’s Quebec honey long ago, and the ribbon lets me pick two-handed.
And the book will either get longer or it won’t. My editor will either ask for changes – or he won’t. I might even get to the beach at the end of the week.
Oh, and if you’re in New England, please head over to the Ashland, MA public library Saturday for a cozy mystery afternoon with Barb, LeslieMeier, Barbara Tanner Wallace, and me!
Readers: What has lifted your spirits recently?
