Moving Day

Yesterday, I began what will be a lengthy process of moving into a new place near Stone Ridge, NY. Jessica and I renting on a month to month basis, but it’s a lovely home in the heart of farm country in the Catskill foothills and I suspect we’ll be here a while. The journey here has been long and arduous. Moving into a house with one’s significant other is an important transition.

Several years ago my personal life went pear-shaped. Life basically took all my skin off over the course of a few weeks and left me a bundle of exposed nerves. The two things that kept the ship from sinking was my dog and my writing projects. I took care of them and they returned the favor.��I spent most of 2011 holed up in the mountains near Lincoln, Mt with my brother Jason and his wife Harmony. During the day, I managed a neighbor’s kennel of huskies and helped with all the labor that attends a homestead on the edge of the wilderness. At night, I wrote “More Dark,” “Hand of Glory” and��The Croning.��

Late that fall I packed the truck and drove in two shots across the country to Rifton, NY. I rented a room from John and Fiona Langan. Since then, I’ve worked with Fiona down at the farm, hayed during the summer, helped with a couple of rescue dogs,and seen John and his son David progress from white to red belts in Tang Soo Do.

Mostly, however, I’ve battened down the hatches and written. Out of all those dark times have come Jessica Mace, Johnny Cope, Rex, a crime novel, and numerous crazy ideas for stories that would not have occurred to me otherwise. What I needed for recovery was the time and environment to focus on the work which gives me purpose and fulfillment.

Thank you to Jason, Harmony and the little Barrons in Montana, and thank you to John, Fiona, and David Langan here in New York. Thank you for giving me shelter and allowing me to put the pieces back together.