It's Been a Minute

Hey all.

I'm just gonna say it.

I'm terrible at written multi-tasking. Either I'm writing a book or I'm writing blogs, or maybe I'm not even writing at all at which point I'm just bad at the doing of writing, and this has turned into a long sentence.

You may notice that, in fact, the last blog posted was very nearly six months ago. And...I never meant it to be that long. But the thing with blogging is that the longer you're away the harder it is to go back.

Also, things were busy. We experienced our first holiday season in the south, and we spent time with friends and I got sick (again) and I made all of our Christmas gifts and we spent more time with friends. Everyone asks why we moved here, what we were thinking, and you know what? The Mid-south is America's best kept secret. We've moved around a lot over the years, and I feel more settled and at home here than I ever did in the Portland area. Also, I can find parking places. It's a win-win.

After the holidays, life was a blur of visiting family, another round of viruses, and becoming members of our church. Things were settling out a little bit, and I was looking forward to catching up on the writing and blogging and newslettering.

And then Danny's father passed away unexpectedly, and that threw everything, all of us, for a loop. We traveled back to Oregon and spent two weeks there, and since our return Danny's had work trips to Alabama, I got to see Darlingside with my dear friend Ginny in Nashville, and then Danny and I drove to North Carolina and back to attend a sweet cousin's wedding reception.

That was...weekend before last? To complete that whirlwind, I got to speak at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, which was great but also kinda prepared at the last minute (see previous paragraph). The notes for that will be in the following post, if you're interested.

Also, there will be a newsletter forthcoming I KNOW, BUT I MEAN IT THIS TIME. So if you'd like that in your inbox and haven't subscribed, make sure to do that!

What else? I am still working on a new book. Yes, it is going very slowly. Yes, I hope to pick up the pace. Yes, I like it very much and if you liked Jane of Austin, I think you'll like it too.

I've been reading A Lady in the Smoke and have been enjoying that very much. I also reread The Peach Keeper (which I have to say I enjoyed better as a reread) and have The Music Shop in my TBR pile with Robin Gunn's Woodlands as well for peak nostalgia.

What's kept you busy? What's in your book pile? Share in the comments below!

Out of the Box

Hi friends!

I didn't mean for the blog to go dark through September, but that is (clearly) how it shook out. We made an offer on a house on my mom's birthday - August 5th, had it accepted on the 6th, and closed on the 11th of September. Danny and his older brother moved the heavy furniture over the weekend of the 18th, and we moved most everything else the weekend after.

We spent the next week making trips back and forth (about an hour each way, in traffic) to finish packing and some fairly intensive cleaning of our rental townhouse.

Glad Tidings

I've started this blog a few times and not gotten past the title. I finished Plain Jayne last Tuesday, after a marathon writing day that involved almost 3,000 words written in a single day.
Wednesday and Thursday I took my agent's advice and spent a couple days away from the book. Read Girls in Trucks, which made my brain melt a little. Friday I formatted the book into a single document (which is more time-consuming than it sounds) and learned that the official title for the next book is............

Simply Sara! Which I predicted, and is why when I requested information on the Art Institute of Portland, I listed Sara's name. At the time, I listed that I only wished to be reached by mail or email. So imagine my surprise when I get a call asking if I'm Sara Burke.

I had an entire conversation as Sara, and asked lots of questions that will prove useful in the next book.

Looking forward to doing the research for Simply Sara. After researching Plain Jayne, I made the decision as a writer that I wanted to learn something new for every book. For Plain Jayne, that meant learning to ride a motorcycle. For Simply Sara, I want to learn to sew. I tried last spring, with mixed results. Mixed, largely because I tend to get ambitious when it comes to textiles. When I knit, I can rip things out when they don't work. Sewing - it's a bit more complicated.

So - for the rest of the month, I have a LOT of editing to do! So far I'm on Chapter 4 of 38. Oh - I also have my first interview scheduled. In November I'll be interviewed over the phone by Christian Book Distributors, so that should be exciting.

Enough procrastinating - need to get back to the manuscript. Will update more later!