Page Change
Whoa. I just looked at my last blog, and realized how long I’ve been gone! Well, not really gone. I’ve been here at my desk the whole time, plugging away at my new book. But now we’re into October, and sweet corn is passé in New England. What’s in? Apples and cranberries (the picture below is actually of cranberries). Ginger and yams. Cool nights. Fall foliage.
I’ve lived in New England all my life. My favorite place to vacation is the desert, since its flora and fauna is so different from here, but could I live without our seasonal change? I doubt it. Fall in New England is breathtakingly beautiful. The leaves turn tree by tree, some red, some orange, some yellow. On a sunny day, the colors are brilliant, But bring on a strong rain, and those leaves hit the ground in no time flat.
If you haven’t seen my Facebook page, click here to see the cover photo I just posted. I took it in New Hampshire, where typically New England cemeteries stand at the stop of typically steep roads, where, in theory, the gravestones of typically beloved forebears are closer to God. The foliage is gorgeous in this shot, though, by now, the peak color is gone. Soon the trees will be bare and then covered with snow.
Sad.
Or not. When I was growing up, the year was defined by school vacations. That changed briefly in my pre-parenting years, when I was working outside the home. Once I had kids, the school schedule resumed, and fall meant back-to-school nights, basketball tryouts, shopping trips for school supplies and sweaters and coats. My kids are still into that schedule, now with their kids. But me? It’s about writing. Gray November days are perfect for hunkering in and going nowhere. Same with snowy ones in December and January. By February and March, the end of my book will be in sight, sparking a momentum all its own.
That new book? Aha. You were wondering about it, waiting patiently for early word. But first, let me thank all of you who read Sweet Salt Air and posted such amazing comments. When this kind of thing happens, I go into self-doubt mode, convinced – absolutely convinced – that I can never write a book as good and am therefore doomed to disappoint my readers. So let me say, right off the bat, that the book I’m currently writing is very, very different from Sweet Salt Air. I’ll need a title that is very different as well, though the powers that be haven’t come up with it yet. Here’s what I can tell you, though.
It’s about a mother and daughter who are forced to compete professionally for the same job.
It’s about the fragility of life and its knack of changing in a split second of time.
It’s about beautiful old Victorian homes and sleek white condos, racy convertibles and dusty pickups, rescue cats and bully dogs.
It’s about sex and the fifty-year-old woman; it’s about sex and the thirty-year-old one.
Lots of good stuff, dragging me back there right now. I’ll tell you more when the snow flies, but if you’re impatient, please know that I’m writing as fast as I can.
I’m also boiling cranberries. The simplest, healthiest seasonal dessert can be made by simply boiling cranberries in enough water to barely cover, until they get all fat and soft, adding sugar or honey for sweetness, stirring and cooling a little. If you add apple slices while cooking, your kitchen will smell amazing. If you add orange slices while cooking, then chop in a blender, you get a wonderful homemade orange-cranberry sauce. My husband and I love this for breakfast!
Got a good cranberry recipe?
