Wow, okay it’s been a year since my last post. Obviously blogging is not one of my strong points. But I just got a message alert that folks are getting antsy for the next book, so I thought I’d better get in here and explain what is going on in my wee life.

So, let’s get the bad news out there right now. I like to get new books out within a year of the previous one, but that is not going to happen this time. And no, it’s not due to lack of interest, or a crazy social calendar, it’s due to some very time consuming changes going on in my life. Allow me to elaborate.

If you’ve read my oh-so-not-interesting Bio, you know I’ve been wanting to leave Arizona and relocate to Oregon. I hate the heat, and I feel that if there is a Purgatory, I’ve already done my time. I’ve spent close to thirty years in a city I loathe, and it’s time for that to change. As such, I’ve finally made inroads toward that goal.

There is a reason why many people list moving right up there with death. It’s awful. Bloody awful. With the passing of my mother, it has been my father and I in a 2,600+ square foot house. He’s 80 now and stairs are not his friend, so when we eventually settle into another home, it will be much smaller, and have a bedroom and full bath on the ground floor.

Over 20 years spent in a much too large house resulted in an accumulation of stuff of nightmarish proportions. It became apparent quickly that I would simply have to part with a ton of stuff, including all of my beloved books. I’m fortunate in that I found a school librarian desperate for books for her middle school kids. I’ve donated hundreds of books to her, and made a friend in the process. Salvation Army and Goodwill took the bulk of our furniture, including appliances like the dryer, microwave and bread maker. If I want to make bread, I’ll do it the old fashioned way – I learned it isn’t that much harder.

I gave away all of my book shelves, our entertainment center and couch. My father’s bed, which he hated anyway, went to charity as well. My art easel, a huge wood desk, all our exercise equipment, and an embarrassingly large assortment of stuffed toys will hopefully do someone some good somewhere. I’m in the midst of trying to sell some of my gaming stuff and action figures on eBay. Fun times.

The day of the move, we had some local folks move some of the boxes and all of the large items like the remaining couch, and two recliners. I kept my dresser which is doing double duty as its namesake and an entertainment center. With the large items out of the house the dismal realization that there were still boxes and boxes worth of small items remaining hit home (no pun intended). I called in sick for four days and spent those days, plus the following weekend filling boxes, carting them down the stairs, stuffing them in my car and hauling them to the apartments. My right new puffed up like a soccer ball, and three of my toes went numb. The knee recovered, but the toes haven’t, so the doctor has me on prednisone in the hopes of getting that issue cleared up. Oh, and it was about 116 degrees those days, so yeah, I picked a great time to move.

The actual move is going in parts. We couldn’t buy a house until we sold the old one. In order to get rid of it, we had to be out of it, so stage one was moving out of the house into two small apartments. Apartment living has changed since I last occupied one 30 years ago. At least in this area, there is no month-to-month. It’s a six month lease at a minimum. So, we’re stuck with the apartments, and the extra expense until the end of October.

The old house has sold, and even as I type this, my poor father is up in Oregon hunting for a new one. He hates that he must make a decision without me being there, but I work full-time, and it’s my job that is keeping roofs over our heads. I cannot take the time off to go up their in his stead. He has a camera and said he will send pictures beyond what is available online and he’ll call me after viewing each home so we can discuss the pros and cons.

When I wrote book II I was going to school full-time. I’d forgotten how soul sucking and time consuming working is. I love school. I enjoy learning new stuff. I like being with younger people who haven’t had to face the reality of working for big businesses. They still have hope of doing something they love. It’s contagious. It spurred my creativity and also afforded me the time to work on my book. Now I’m back working for “the man” and working ten hours a day has quickly reminded me why my first book took so much longer to write than my second book.

So, I apologize. I would love to put out Book III in July as I’d planned. It just isn’t going to happen, though. I’m working on it as I am able. I’m about a third of the way done with the first draft. My writing group is going over scenes each week, and the earlier chapters have had some initial editing done to them. I’ve gone over some ideas with my beta readers to see what they think of the direction I’m heading in, and gotten some good feedback. It’s all coming along, just not as quickly as anyone might hope – especially me.

Thank you for your continued interest. I make no promises, but I will try to update this blog a little more frequently so you know what the devil is going on. In the meantime, keep on reading and fueling your own imaginations.