Since We Last Spoke

I know. It's getting echo-y in here. And dusty. You should see the dust. Picture me wafting a feather duster as we speak.

So it's been quite a year. My father is rapidly losing his mind. I doubt he'll remember me by the time Mom gets them moved down here (he doesn't remember people he talked to five minutes ago, let alone someone he hasn't seen since November). She comes for support from me and my brother. I don't envy her the job one bit. She has to take care of a giant one-year-old who forgets to put on his pants, while sifting through all their stuff and deciding which to take in the move, which to entrust to kids and grand kids, and which she'll send out on little rafts into the world to be someone else's stuff. I think I'm the one who appreciates age and heritage the most. My children don't even consider my things ballast. They're from the Chuck-it generation. But I can't be the repository for everything. I've got my own stuff crowding me out--stuff my children blithely jettisoned that mean nothing to them and memories to me.

I went to ANWA book conference. Those so totally re-energize me and remind me why I write. I learn so much about my craft every time, and network like there is no tomorrow. I got a nibble for my science fiction book (later that really sweet trout got off my hook) that I wasn't expecting. I wish it had panned out. But it made me feel great. I also found out that my publisher is dumping most of their other authors, but keeping me. That made me feel GREAT.

Last November, I went up to my sister's house to watch her kids and my father while Mom and my sister took a much-needed vacation in Hawaii. Unfortunately for them, it was the vacation to the Underworld complete with sickness, a lost night out, worry, a newly broken hand (while surfing) and lots of pain.
On my end, it was an exercise in trying to entertain a one-year-old man who still thinks he can drive himself home to another state, when in reality he can't remember the way to the bathroom across the hall. I prided myself on writing most of a book and making sure he couldn't break free, only to be brought home by policemen (that happened, but not to me). He didn't appreciate the locked door, by the way. I had to distract him with walks with the dog--Dad stopping in the middle of the road to wave at passing planes--the dog pulling me toward every interesting stench. I gladly made the house look great and cleaned up much of the back yard.
Unfortunately when I left, I forgot to take some very important clothes I wear all the time. I still haven't managed to get them back, and it's driving me nuts.

Christmas is always difficult. Most of the magic wears off when it's me doing most of the shopping by myself for everyone, then wrapping everything by myself, then finding out they're not taking most of it with them. Or having to return it for them. Or they won't use it. I begin to wonder if it wouldn't be better just to celebrate Christ's birthday with a cake like anybody else and leave the shopping juggernaut to someone else. Certainly the wrapping is the first thing I'm dumping. I'm going to get an assortment of bags and plop them inside and if they don't like it, tough. They don't even come to our house much to notice the presents under the tree anyway. Huge pain in the rump for nothing.

So. What to look forward to this year? Great things, my friend.
I'm getting HEART OF THE ENEMY published soon. Right now we're in final edits and working on the cover design. Was due last year at this time but they've put off and put off, so I'm not setting a date until I see the final right before my eyes (which really makes book launches and general marketing difficult).
I'm also expecting a visit from my publisher (at my house) sometime this spring. We plan to go rock-hounding before it gets hot enough to bake cookies on the car seat. Don't want the poor woman getting heat stroke along with her rocks.
The Fam eagerly expects a new baby in March. The Mom is being rather close-mouthed about the flavor of said baby, so it'll have nothing but gray clothes and accessories, poor thing. No other such news is evident yet.
I'm 70K words into HEART OF THE SEA SPRITE, my most-researched book yet about a girl who disguises herself as her dead brother and goes to sea in the Royal Navy against Napoleon. I'm hoping ENEMY sells well enough they'll publish SPRITE too. Then I'm thinking about doing a dictionary of Regency words using all of Jane Austen's works and letters, plus other Regency era authors. It'll be for enthusiasts and writers. I plan to have pictures, and references and maybe even quotes.
Also, my parents are moving down here. I may go up to help them pack and load and move. And certainly I'll be spending some time with Dad so Mom can rejuvenate.
The kids are sending my husband and I on some kind of vacation (they added in last year's failed staycation money into this year's Christmas present to pay part). Not sure when, where, or how, but a trip away is at least more likely to come to fruition than the husband taking me to a hotel in town (something he'd never do).
I'm hoping we get some repairs done to the outside of the house (including finishing the termite protection). The wooden board thingies under the roof need to be replaced and we've GOT to paint it something other than baby poop and despair colored. Pretty sure the siding has decades of gecko poop beneath it, which is causing some discoloration, so that's gotta go as well. I'm so sick of dirt colored houses, so I'm hoping it'll be blue and white or grey and blue. I want to dump lots of that trash in the back yard and shed. Not sure how it'll work since at least one of us is a pack rat and the other likes to hoard things. But I see a lightening of the load of rust in our future.
I'm hoping to start a garden of more than just pumpkins this year. I've been tenderly nursing a sprouting onion in my fridge (and several kinds of mold) so hopefully we'll have at least pumpkin. and onions. Who knows if the rest will sprout?
There'll be ANWA in September and perhaps a visit to the grands in Indiana at some point.
My friend Cindi and I want to go crew on a tall ship this year sometime. Or at least passenger. That would be magnificent. I can't wait.
And sometime late this year or next year, Mom said she wants to take me to Bulgaria. I know. Kind of random, but what an adventure! I'm going to have to learn at least enough Bulgarian to navigate and eat and go to the bathroom...;o) And I want to get some of their fantastic lace and a vial of rose water to replace mine that vanished into thin air. They're famous for it.

So. That's a breakdown of what may come to pass this year. The crystal ball is all dusted now and back on the shelf. See you later.