Not unknown exactly, as I have reinvented myself a few times before. We take on many personas as we women go through life–daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, friend, fiancé, wife, mother, grandma.
The moniker I don’t like is a widow. Its almost four years since my husband of fifty years died and left me to carry on without him.
Family and friends here and abroad have been my rock and are so important to me and I cherish them all. The house I am living in right now, Peter and I bought over 30 years ago. Lots of memories with the three kids who are now adults and have families of their own. They have given me five wonderful grandsons. I’m a lucky lady.
So why, In the middle of a pandemic would I sell my house and buy an apartment? It didn’t just come to me as my kids thought. Oh, mum’s bored. So she’s gone out and bought a house!! One even said that’s my childhood home you’re selling. Hardly, they were all teenagers when we came here.
I’d been searching for a smaller place on one floor. When time creeps up on you stairs become a big nuisance. And bingo! The perfect garden apartment was found. Not far from where I now live, so a familiar neighborhood. No elevators to deal with. Beautiful grounds that someone else will look after. A walkout to a beautiful terrace and lots of room for all my books and writing paraphernalia. How perfect is that?
So what has this to do with writing you ask? It’s really all about change. We have all been asked to change how we view the world. How we travel, interact with each other at a distance. Wearing a mask is foreign to most of us but if we don’t accept the changes in our lives now it will be at our peril. This is one of the biggest changes most of us have had to deal with but stick to the rules folks and we will come through this.
On the Jamie Tremain front, Liz and I are excited about the changes in our working life together. Now that she has retired and left the corporate jungle behind, we can set a working schedule but we are both flexible with our time.
This is not to say we have been idle. Again, it’s all about change. I started the year off by breaking my arm. Two months later when I was starting to recover we heard the rumblings of COVID-19. More changes and in a big way. You all know the numbers and how frightening it all is. So while in isolation we could Zoom-video chat and use our method of writing on Google Drive to keep us busy.
The publishing industry has changed so we were fearful our latest WIP would be delegated to a desk drawer. We are happy to say Beholden to None, our third book in the Dorothy Dennehy Mystery series is now with our publisher. We will keep you updated on the progress of this book.
So as I dealt with realtors and purging and packing for my new home Liz dug out a book we wrote in 2013. Dusted it off and we worked to clean it up, revised, and added to get it ready for publication. Grants Crossing #1. We are busy now with Grants Crossing #2 and planning a whole new series with different characters. We hope you like them as much as we do.
Stay cool, it’s hot here in Southern Ontario, wear your mask and keep apart as much as you can. We will get through this if we listen to the experts in the medical field.
Slainte,
Pam
