A LOSS: Nanuq was a cat of peace. For fourteen years he shared my morning writing chair. His loving spirit never faltered, even as he suffered in his final days.
A GAIN: Ten months ago I received a new hip, my old one wrecked in a tango accident. Yes, tango can be dangerous. Careful out there. Have I given up the dance? Not a chance, though I have traded my gorgeous stilettos for flats. (Learn more about tango in my novel From Here to Argentina: A Tango Love Story, and see me dancing tango on my website.)
A HUGE CHANGE: As soon as I could walk unaided post-surgery, my husband and I prepared our cottage in Bend, Oregon, for sale. That’s simple to say, but as anyone knows who has ever sold their home of over thirty years, not simple at all to do. Moving out of state and finding a new house took hard work, deep breaths, good friends, remarkable realtors, and blind luck.
Each morning now I wake up in Bellingham, Washington, step out into my garden, and marvel that, yes, this is our new home. Our back yard borders on the campus of Western Washington University where I graduated in 1975, so our move is also my homecoming.
A NEW BOOK ON THE WAY: I last wrote a blog post two years ago, a different world. Today voices are raised on a grand scale, exposing the barbarous inhumanity and incivility that has become everyday news fodder, and a threat to us all. My voice is meant to offer small-scale peace, entertainment, and relief from the noise and anxiety, because I can’t fix it, but neither do I want to let it swallow me, or you.
My new short novel, Dying to Help, completes a trilogy. Along with Nowever and Cold Mirage we share the wild ride of Stevie, a teen girl blessed, or cursed, with the ability to heal pain with her touch. If you haven’t already read the first two books this is a good time to catch up with Stevie’s adventures before Dying to Help comes out.
A NEW FAVORITE INDIE BOOKSTORE: I love all my readers whether they buy my books or borrow them from the library, but several independent bookstores have my heart. Powell’s in Portland and Roundabout in Bend are two Oregon favorites. Now that I live in Bellingham, Village Books has become the center of my reading and writing life. In November I’ll be visiting Cold Spring, in New York’s Hudson River Valley, and have high hopes for Split Rock Books.
Where I write now
Looking across Bellingham Bay to my new neighborhood