My excuse is that I've been writing like a mad woman in all of my spare time. I've finished the second novel in the series, French Toast ala Santa Fe, and have sent it around to beta readers. My writer's group, Write Minds with the SouthWest Writers, is also reading it 3000-4500 words at a time.
I was also interviewed by Oleg Kagan for his "Shelf Talks" blog. Please visit it at https://olegkagan.
The past couple of months I've been working on short stories for the SouthWest Writer's annual short story contest, which opens June 1. I'd love to post them here, but they must be unpublished, so ... you'll just have to wait until the contest is over! So far, I've written four -- and it occurs to me that I probably shouldn't describe them here on the very remote chance that one of the judges should stumble upon this blog. Very remote, but non-zero.
Oh, yes, and I retired as of May 19, 2024! Lots of paperwork with that. I preferred to hand carry it rather than send so much personal identifying information through the mail, so I was literally driving around Baton Rouge to deliver it. This afternoon is my farewell tea. I'm wearing a garden party hat. Photos to follow.
We put the house up for sale, which involved a pre-inspection in March that revealed that we needed a new roof due to hail damage. Thankfully, the insurance covered the bulk of that. Due to the frequent thunderstorms, it was the end of April before it was finally installed. It looks fabulous!
In the meantime, there was the decluttering and accompanying trips to Habit Restore and Purple Cow thrift store. Finally, cleaning, getting the yard in shape (which required 26 bags of mulch) and professional photos, and we went on the market on Friday, May 10. Two showings on Saturday and an offer on Sunday. Four more showings through the end of that week and a back-up offer. My head is still spinning. Their inspector the end of that week and a few more repairs -- biggest one being the new water heater. We opted to do that rather than offer a home warranty so that there will be no problems with insurance.
So, we're looking at a closing date of June 28 and arrival in Albuquerque on July 1. I met with a realtor when I was there in February and we've been pre-approved for a new mortgage, so the house hunting will begin!
In the meantime, I've begun the third novel, Cold Vichyssoise Soup. I'll be submitting the first chapter in the "First chapter of an unpublished novel" category. This one takes its own detour and is focused on Route 66 in Albuquerque. Prudence investigates a murder among a troupe of vaudevillian performers staying at a motor court on the Mother Road. It's going to be a more traditional murder mystery, just to see if I can do it. It will include a brown-and-white performing terrier named "Miss Mamie."
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