Well, here we are still trying to stay safe and healthy. My salvation so far has been my walking, which I do every day religiously, my gardening, which I can only do on cooler less humid days, and my writing, which I can thankfully do every day!
So the result so far? My walking is giving me energy, strength, thinking time and helping me to lose a few inches. So that's a positive.
As for the gardening, we're in the middle of a drought here so the other day when I tried to attach my hose to water the back flower gardens, the faucet didn't work. It worked a few days ago, but today? Not so much. Now if you're thinking this is not a big problem, you'd be wrong. The plumber came and said "it's most likely the valve's sticking." Okay, I think, can you unstick it. Where is the valve? Ah... now that's the problem. Inside my downstairs family room wall where there is no access. And at this point, I'm not about to have the wall come down, but I'm also not happy about this since I have large flower gardens that are drooping and drying up from lack of water. Well, I can only watch these poor plants suffer for so long, so like the sorcerer's apprentice I begin to carry jugs of water from the upstairs sink. You're laughing I know, but I'm praying for a few drops of rain, asking if the non-existent clouds can be seeded? They used to talk about that. In the meantime, I continue my trek with the water attempting to save what I can.
Lastly, my writing. Now that has turned out to be my salvation. I think I said the last time that in the early stages of this pandemic, it was hard for me to concentrate on anything, but slowly, as I developed my pandemic rhythm, my words started to flow... unlike my back faucet. Two days ago, I finished the draft of my next novel, about 73,000 words! So that's a great accomplishment, but now the real work begins. I'm finding that my female character, Elle, needs a little more development, more backstory as they call it. I feel the male character, Gabriel, might be more robust, but still needs some backstory as well. The setting? I think that's okay. Most important are the two houses involved and the old cemetery. Although, they did take a side trip which ended up being pretty entertaining. And the goal, I think it is well understood by them and me. As with all or most of my manuscripts, this one began with a newspaper article about a strange occurrence, a body from the 1800's being uncovered in a very strange way. This event becomes front and center now that Elle is preparing to sell the house. So... if you wait until around October, it should be out. When I finish my revision, it goes to my publisher where they edit more if needed and then it's proofed and published. Once that novel is out, I'll go back to work on my next Oyster Point mystery which is maybe a third complete already. Everyone loved those two character, Jack and Jamie, so much, as did I, that they have to continue their attempts at solving "cold cases". So, on the writing front, I'm feeling good.
I hope you are stay well, safe and sane during this time. Chronicle your feelings in a journal. Some day in the future, people might want to read our stories!
Till, Judi
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