2022

As always, January is a good time to look back as well as forward. How did last year measure up? And what will I do differently this coming year? Well, that depends...

Reading

Not my best year for reading, I have to admit. At least looking at the last several years.

In 2017, I read 69 books, not including December (I forgot to keep track. Sigh.).

In 2019 (didn't keep track in 2018), I read 73 books, again not including December. Apparently I get really caught up in the holiday spirit of the month and, although I read, I forget to write it down.

In 2020, I again read 69 books. Including December.

In 2021, I read only 58 books because I was performing in a play during the months of October and November and my reading time was taken up with learning lines.

And in 2022, I read only 52 books, partly for the same reason. After decades of not being on stage, I've been in two plays in two years. Both times was in plays making their stage debut -- works in progress by playwrights needing to see their words in front of an audience. We did talk-backs after each performance so those from the audience who wanted to give feedback could do so. A lot of fun and very exciting to help fellow authors (even if a different genre).

I keep track of the genres I read as well and fantasy tops the list with romances following close behind (I'm a sucker for a good Regency or Scottish Highlander). Historicals come next, followed by the rare non-fiction. I do read chick-lit on occasion, although I didn't this past year. Oh! And I had two books I started and didn't finish this year. Didn't include them in my 52 read, though. If I didn't finish, I can't count them in my list, according to my criteria. 

Projects

You know I'm a weaver, with a 36" 4-harness, 6-treadle loom. I made several pieces in the beginning of 2022, one of which has been mostly eaten by mice. 

Yep. I made, out of old rug yarn, two small rugs, using old towels for the weft. Put them down at the cabin, one to go under shoes/boots near the front door, one in the kitchen. The rug yarn, because the skeins were leftovers from other people's projects, was of many colors: beige, dark brown, purple, yellow. Interestingly, the mice really enjoyed the purple. They ate/stole nearly all of it from the rugs. They've left the towels alone (so far), and only lightly gnawed on the other colors. But the purple, they loved, leaving gaping holes where that warp used to be.

No, I'm not mad. The whole project was an experiment to begin with, and I learned a lot doing it. Now I've learned more from watching the rugs slowly disappear. A win!

The end of 2022 brought a new interest: making junk journals. I'll write more on those later, but suffice it to say, I've been down the You Tube rabbit hole and now am hooked. LOVE playing with paper!

Writing

Romantic Seas, my latest (and quite likely last) Diana Hunter novel released this past July. The protagonists are older (as am I) and I had fun writing it. 

But I'm really enjoying writing this epic fantasy. I've split the first book into two and given them names: Threads of Earth and Sky and Threads of Power and Loss; Parts I and II of The Companion series. I've sent them out and gotten a few nice rejection letters -- and ignored by other agents/publishers. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, I'm at work on the third volume of the series. There will be four all together. With any luck (and more sending this puppy out), I'll find that person this year who will take a chance and get this published!

Aging

I hit the big 6-5 in 2022, and found, for the first time, a little difficulty with my age. Normally, I like being the age I am. Sixty-two was a little nerve-wracking because three of my four grandparents died at the age of 62. My parents both lived into their eighties, but still -- a year I needed to get through.

Obviously I did and went on Medicare (sigh). This year I'm eligible for Social Security. While I will welcome the money, there is an implication of old age that goes along with it. I'm definitely in my later years -- the "Old Crone" stage of a woman's life. I prefer the "Wise Woman," however. No matter what my knees tell me.

Traveling

We did a lot that had to do with Steven's plein air painting. Ellora, Canada; Towanda, Pennsylvania -- he painted (and sold!) and I used the time to engage in the three R's: reading, writing, and relaxing. We also took the opportunity to visit Nova Scotia. We have friends there and stayed with them for several days, doing a deep dive into that part of the province. I love it there!

This year will be closer to home. I'm sure he'll do the plein air festival in Ellora again, but I'm not sure if I'll go with him this time. We have a cabin we didn't get to spend much time in last year; I'm thinking this year, it will become a second home! Needs a new fridge, but otherwise, it's very livable for weeks at a time.

2023?

More writing, more reading, more of making junk journals -- and more aging. Maybe some small traveling, lots of staying at the cabin. Enjoying the adventure -- always!

May your year be filled with joy and excitement of the good kind!

Play safe,

Diana

What have YOU been reading?

One might think that, after finishing the mammoth Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan this past summer, that I might shy away from another multi-book fantasy series.

Anyone who thinks that, doesn't know fantasy readers very well. We LIVE for the next multi-book series. And when we find good ones (even just so-so ones), we devour them.

And then we go out and find everything else that author has ever written and read that, too.

The Wheel of Time stretch started in April, finished at the end of August (with several non-Jordan books thrown in as I waited for the next books in the series to arrive). You can read my take on the series here.

The other books I read during that stretch more accurately reflect my varied tastes.

In May, I interspersed my series reading with A Walk in Wolf Wood by Mary Stewart (a children's story, but heck, it's Mary Stewart! You can't go wrong), The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick and The Magic Circle by Nora Roberts. All three much lighter reading -- needed after the relentless and often confusing Jordanian monstrosity.

June saw me stepping away from the series entirely for a bit. My husband and I did some traveling, so I brought lighter reading with me. I'd read the three Katherine Kurtz/Deborah Harris books before, but enjoyed revisiting them this month. The Temple and the Stone, The Temple and the Crown, and Two Crowns for America all have an exploration of the Masonic traditions at their heart. Still in the fantasy genre, but smaller bites.

July put me right back in the Wheel of Time and I read three books of the series that month. What can I say? They're BIG!

By August I was determined to push through and crack that sucker. I read every single one remaining, with a tiny one-day break to re-read Katherine Kurtz book, St. Patrick's Gargoyle. This stand-alone book needed a series. I truly enjoyed it.

By September, with the Wheel of Time series finished (yay!), I went for a variety of genres: Archangel's Storm by Nalini Singh, a biography of Richard the Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman, a Regency by Anna Harrington called A Remarkable Rogue and finishing the month with an autobiography of John Cleese, aptly titled So Far.

But you can't keep a good fantasy reader down for long. October started with Never After, a cute story by Melissa De La Cruz -- and then I read The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas. My husband had given me the first six books of the series for Christmas last year and I finally got around to them.

I got hooked. Bought the last two in the series and just finished it off this first week in November. Eight books in total in the Throne of Glass series and I couldn't put them down. The publisher markets these books as young adult, but don't let that fool you. This is a kick-ass heroine who undergoes some truly horrific trials as she grows from a seventeen-year old assassin to, well, her ultimate destiny (which I won't spoil for you).

How much did I like this series? So much so that I cleaned off my "permanent" bookshelves to find a spot for it. Space is at a premium here, so only the books I think I'll re-read get to stay. I now have two small boxes of books ready for donation to the library (which includes the entire Wheel of Time series -- reading that once was plenty!).

What will I read next? Something off my TBR shelves ("to be read"). I have three of those and I need to read through some of those to make room for Christmas. My husband already has my "if you're so inclined to get me books for Christmas..." list so I've gotta make room!

For those keeping record, that puts me behind on the number of books this year: I've only read 47. Between the loopiness of the knee surgery and then spending all those months on That Series, my reading ability (and time) took a hit. I'm usually around 70 by this point. 

But that's okay. I'm glad I took the time to read through that series, despite my complaining about it. I haven't seen any of the filmed version yet -- but I will. And that will be a different post.

Take care and play safe!

Diana

Well, I finally did it.

I read the entire Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

All fourteen mammoth books of it.

Twenty ears ago or so, I read the first book, The Eye of the World, and enjoyed it. I started the second book, The Great Hunt, and it was just the first book all over again. Same beginning, same plot structure…I set it aside and never went back. Life’s too short to spend time reading books you don’t like.

Fast forward twenty years and now my son has read the entire series. He reads with his ears rather than his eyes, and had gone through the entire now-fourteen book series over the course of several months. He liked most of the books and encourages me to try it again. Robert Jordan passed away before he could complete the series; Brandon Sanderson has written the last three books from the copious notes Jordan had left.

I like Sanderson. I’ve read all of his books. ALL of them. I like his style: straightforward, enough description to see a scene without repeating it over and over and over. Which is what Jordan did.  You don’t need to tell me the Aes Sedai have ageless faces every single time one comes into the story. Every. Single. Time. Augh!!!

In fact, if I didn’t know Sanderson was the author of the last three books, I’m pretty sure I would’ve abandoned the series after book seven, when I wanted to throw it across the room at the “climax.” Do NOT set up the villain throughout several hundred pages, detailing his plots, throwing monkey wrenches into the hero’s path, and then, at the final battle between the two, have the hero accidentally throw some magic toward someone else and “maybe” catch the villain in it as well, killing him. Maybe. Can’t be sure.

And that was it. The entire ending of a several hundred page conflict over in a single sentence that provided no conclusion. Yeah. It took a lot of will-power not to throw that book out the window.

Why did I keep going at that point? Because I hoped to find out what really happened. To find out if the villain was actually dead. And did I? Nope. Not even discussed until several books later.

Yeah, the ONLY thing that kept me reading was the fact that Brandon Sanderson wrote the last three books.

To be fair, books ten and eleven – Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams – did get better. But honestly? Some editor really should’ve told Jordan to stop the repetition.

And no, I’m not talking about the regular repetition one has to put at the start of each book in order to bring a reader up-to-date if they haven’t read the other books that came before. Every author does that because, well, because publishers demand it. The only one who got away without it was JRR Tolkien and that was because he pretty much invented the fantasy genre with The Lord of the Rings and his publisher just took his mammoth book and hacked it into three parts.

Publishers don’t do that any more. Every book in a series has to stand on its own so that, if a reader picks up Book Three in a series, they can jump in without having to read the first two. Whether I agree with that or not is a totally different blog post.

So I didn’t mind that repetition in the series. But really? Every time the reader goes into a city, even if the characters had been there just a few chapters earlier, do you have to describe the entire thing all over again? And do I really need to know EXACTLY what every single character is wearing, every time he/she changes their clothes? Does EVERY horse have to have a name? EVERY messenger who has a single line have to have a name that I’m going to forget, probably before I turn the page?

The cast of characters is huge. And people come and go quickly. You learn a name and poof! They’re gone. But don’t forget them, because three books later, here they are again and if you’ve forgotten them and their relationship? THAT he’s not going to remind you of. THAT he expects you to remember.

But I have done it. I read all fourteen books and only skimmed some of that too much description. Detail is king in these books, and what I consider to be too much, others might appreciate. Truly, the fashion choices of each character might be important and, if Jordan had followed up on them and given a clue as to whether it was a whim or a statement, that would’ve been helpful. But he didn’t. He just changes their clothes and moves on.

And so am I. No idea what I’ll read next. Probably a light Regency just to regain my equilibrium. I am leaving the world of the Wheel of Time behind. Let the Wheel turn as it will, I’m getting off the merry-go-round.

Play safe!

Diana

P.S. If you haven’t picked up your copy of my newest book, Romantic Seas, make sure you do! It’s a novella, so you can read it in an afternoon and it won’t take up months of your time. I promise. J

Catching up in the New Year -- Come on, 2022!

 

Missing some photos for my montage,
but here's our tradition!

   New year, new beginnings, new resolutions.

   Putting the old year to bed, settling accounts, and  looking back, however, needs to happen first. To that end...

   I did a great job keeping track of the books I read this year -- right through September, as per usual. In October, however, my reading came to an abrupt halt. Why? I had lines to learn! I went back on stage for the first time in thirty-one years.

   Understand, my undergraduate degree is in Theatre Arts. My husband and I owned a theatre company for eight years. I did my share of directing both community and high school theatre. I played many parts on stage, from chorus girl to lead.

And then I had kids.

Don't mistake me. I know many women who have kids and stay active in the theatre. It wasn't for me. Working a full-time teaching job (which I defy anyone to say is a 40-hour a week job!) left me with precious little time to spend with my babies. Something had to give - and it was the theatre. I became the audience (a much-needed part of the whole!) and left treading the boards to others.

My kids are grown now (my daughter is 30! When did I blink?) and the opportunity arose for me to take on a major role in a world premiere of Just Like Sisters, a play by Jay Hannigan. I played the role of Jolie, the more comedic of the three female parts -- and loved it. I had more fun (and anxiety -- not having used my memory muscle in thirty years meant some scary "what's my next line?" moments!) than I thought I would and am thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with a love of my youth.

But learning lines (I had a third of all the lines in the play) takes work (see "anxiety" above) and that left little time for reading. We started rehearsals at the beginning of October and the show went up the weekend before Thanksgiving. I managed to read the newspaper and some online news stories and that was about it.

December, however, brought a different story. The show was done, I had arthroscopic knee surgery on November 30th for a torn meniscus, which meant a lot of time sitting on my rump and healing. To that end, I read three books before Christmas!

My hubby came to me at one point in November and said, "I know you'd be happy with no other Christmas presents than books. Which ones are on your want list?" Can you see why I love him so much? I gave him a list of authors and books and figured he'd get me two or three. He got me twelve! Twelve!!!!

I've read two of them so far -- and am trying to take my time and not read so fast. I devour books, and am thinking maybe taking a little more time with each might be better for me.

Yeah, who am I kidding? I'll continue to devour, re-reading the ones I like the most, passing on the ones not worthy of my shelf space.

So what did I read?

Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone (Diana Gabaldon) - this is a definite keeper and will be re-read many times.

Dear Santa and Christmas in Alaska (Debbie Macomber) - how could I resist that second title when I spent a month there this year? Both have been passed on already.

The Awakening and The Becoming (Nora Roberts) - the first two in her new fantasy series. Brand new - first edition hard covers my hubby got me for Christmas. I'm liking the series and will keep these. Yes, that meant I had to remove two books from my shelves to be passed on (sorry, The Color Purple (Alice Walker) and The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier) -- time to find new homes!).

All told, I recorded reading 56 books in 2021. That's fewer than usual - mostly because 1) I finished writing my own big book (The Companion, Part I is done!) and 2) I was in a play. :)

So that's my look back. Looking forward, I'll keep a record of what I read this year (my resolution) and write more books (my new beginnings).

Happy New Year!

Reading and Writing...and no Arithmetic

The Celebrity Summit - July 2019
probably the last cruise ship I'll ever sail

So I took February off from social media - mostly. I also refrained from reading the news - again, mostly, sticking to weather reports and local COVID updates. It was time I got back to a story I started after my last cruise (doesn't that sound high? My LAST cruise, because, you know, I go on so many. Okay, three. I've been on three. And I will probably never go again. Thanks, Pandemic - which I capitalize to give it the Importance It Deserves). Anyway...I'd started an erotic romance (yes, I KNOW. I said I was done with that genre, but sometimes the characters just leap out of my imagination and onto the page and who am I to deny them their pleasure?), and decided it was high time I got back to those characters and nudge them forward in their story.

I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but I did add another 3000 words to the story, mostly in the beginning of the month. Still a little hard to concentrate, what with all that's going on, but life is moving forward - and so is Maisy and Scott's story. No title as of yet - toying with RomantiaCruise, or Romancing the Seas - but both sound pretty 70's, don't they?

Reading, however, I have covered. I'm including both my January and February reading lists as I didn't update my January post (I was taking a break, remember?). You'll note I read 18 books in the first eight weeks of the year. Yeah. Escape is my coping strategy right now.

January

Besides the two books by Julia Quinn: The Duke and I, and The Viscount Who Loved Me, read in preparation for watching Bridgerton on Netflix, I also read the entire Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels.

February

Finished the last book in the Mortal Instruments series: City of Heavenly Fire. Overall, the series was enjoyable, even if the writing was uneven.

Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish - Two teenage boys let loose (a friend called them "frat boys" - but I don't think they're that entitled. More like little boys told to go play). Am looking forward to their series, Men In Kilts.

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Spakowski - this is the first in The Witcher series. I've tried the Netflix series, but kind of lost interest after five or so episodes. This book seems to take place WAY before the series does, and it might've been better for Netflix to have started where the books did. Interesting to read a translation - sometimes there's a bit of awkwardness in the sentences, but it's a good (if bloody) story.

And then, because I needed a break from the blood and gore: seven Julia Quinn books in a row: An Offer From A Gentleman, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, To Sir Phillip with Love, Because of Miss Bridgerton, When He was Wicked, It's in his Kiss, and The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband. What can I say? When one needs an escape, Regency's are wonderful. And Ms. Quinn writes with flair.

On the last Saturday of the month I found myself with time on my hands - and chose to spend it at Barnes and Noble. I have a stack of unread books from both Christmas and my birthday, plus at least three dozen I've picked up here and there but not yet cracked the bindings on. So naturally I bought five more books!

One I finished today, but will count in February's total, since the bulk of it was read this past weekend - and it is one I HIGHLY RECOMMEND: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. It probably deserves it's own post, but I'm still carrying the book inside my head and can really do no more than make a recommendation. I'll roll it around my thoughts for several days - going back to it in my head and re-living parts. In a few months, I'll pick it up and read it again, knowing there are more levels, and wanting to revisit the characters. And maybe then I'll be able to make coherent statements other than the banal, "Good book, read it."

That catches me up. Hope you are all doing well. It's storming here again (windstorm with snow this time), so staying put tonight. Play safe, and wear a mask!

Diana

New year, new books!

 Well, some new books...for me, anyway.

Once I realized the Netflix series, Bridgerton, was loosely based on Julia Quinn's books, I decided to reread The Duke and I (the first in the series) - and I did this for several reasons. Primarily, I wanted to enjoy the characters with my own pictures in my head before watching the series and getting someone else's pictures in my head. I also read (for the first time) The Viscount Who Loved Me since I wasn't sure if the filmed series would stick to one book at a time or mix the stories all together and tell pieces of each as it went along.

For my review of the series, click here.

For Christmas, my hubby bought me my favorite presents: books. Because I wanted to watch Bridgerton, I didn't immediately delve into any of the three fantasy series he got me this year (THREEE!!!!). After binging the Netflix series, I decided to wait on reading any more of Quinn's books (I have most of them already and they all bear multiple re-reads) and dive head-first into the longest of the fantasy series he bought me: The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. To that end, I've read the first book, City of Bones.

Yes, I know there's some anti-Clare readers out there and I perused the "controversy." I have not yet read the Mortal Engines series, but on the surface, I'm not seeing much in the way of similarities. Does Clare use several fantasy tropes? Of course. Did J.K. Rowling rip off some of Tolkien? Of course! Doesn't make her a bad writer - it's just her take on a particular story (for the record, take a look at my workshop on the 36 Dramatic Situations - there just aren't that many plots out there!)

Anyway, while there are some sentences I rewrote in my head (hard to find an author where I DON'T do that!), overall I enjoyed it and plan to start the next book today.

With all that's going on in the US right now, I could use an escape into another world.

Play safe!

Diana

 Here in the Northeast, the weather turned chilly this past week and the fall colors are popping out all over. I've put up the autumnal decorations around the house, changed my drawers from summer to winter clothes...and of course, this weekend the temperatures will be back in the 80's. A last hurrah, as it were.

I don't mind. I love summer. Traditionally, Spring has been my favorite ever since I was a little kid. I love the rain puddles to splash in, the bright colors of the first flowers, and the hope that comes with each new planting. As the years progress, however, I'm finding a new appreciation for the warmth of summer, warmth sometimes so thick you can wrap it around you like a blanket. But my blood runs a little thinner nowadays, so that's not as much of an issue as it used to be.

Autumn is my husband's favorite season, but for years, I associated it with going back to a job I hated. The last few years of teaching were onerous because I was burned out. I'd used up all the energy I had to put into education and ran on fumes the last year. 

Now that I'm retired, however, I'm re-discovering this season. I still don't like the coming of the colder weather (see above, summer's warm blanket), but I am appreciating the color changes for the beauty they hold, even as they warn that winter is on it's way. Where I used to cringe at the first sign of yellow in the leaves, I now simply acknowledge - and then watch for the reds and oranges to appear.

Needless to say, winter and I don't get along. It was kind of nice for COVID to come along in March and force me to stay inside and not go out and drive in that mess. Yuck.

As the seasons change, I've been working on a new story (Not telling much yet. Don't want to jinx it) and doing a little more reading. I know it isn't the end of the month yet, but I'm going to post my list to date now before I forget.

I finished off The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch the first few days of the month, and then read the remaining two books in that series: Red Seas Under Red Skies and The Republic of Thieves. Apparently there are to be more in that series, but he hasn't written them yet. What do you think your name is? George RR Martin? Get to it, man!

From there I moved to more lighthearted fare: 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City and How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It  - two books by K. J. Parker. He also writes under the name Tom Holt and I'd read The Outsourcer's Apprentice by him last month. Fun, easy-to-read entertainment!

Moved back into the romance genre for the next few books: Forever Summer (2 novellas) by Nora Roberts, Heiress for Hire by Madeline Hunter, and A Duke to Die For by Amelia Grey. I'm a sucker for a good Regency.

So only seven books so far this month. I'm slacking! And the book I'm currently reading will take a long time: Grant by Ron Chernow. He's the same author who wrote the biography that Lyn-Manuel Miranda turned into the musical, Hamilton. The book is a fascinating look at not just the Civil War general-turned President, but a look at the times as well. Not something that's skimmable, however, so I'm taking my time. :)

Play safe! Wear a mask!

Diana

Summer's bounty - a reading list

 As the nation still struggles with a pandemic, racial issues, and politics that are running amok, I took the summer to do something I haven't done in ages: read.

And I don't mean read a few books here and here, as is my usual M.O. I mean READ like I used to before kids, before marriage, even. Read like I was back in junior high and going to the library every week to get books. Read as in pick one up just after breakfast, remember to stop long enough to make myself a sandwich for lunch and get to the dinner table when my husband's holler pierces through the story I'm encased in. My mom used to say she could set a bomb off next to me and I wouldn't notice if my nose was stuck in a book. This summer, my husband learned the same thing.

Because we couldn't go anywhere physical, I've spent a lot of time down at the cabin, where Internet is spotty at best. While there I puttered around on odd jobs that took less than ten minutes, and then settled in with a good fantasy series - and stayed there.

So what's my list? I already put up part of July's; here is the rest of what I read that month:

By Peter V. Brett: The Skull Throne, The Daylight War, and The Desert Spear (I'd already read The Warded Man, the first in the series and said so in my other post)

In August, I finished off Brett's series with The Core. Overall, good series. Liked most of the characters and the action, although a little too bloody for my tastes. And one entire culture I did not care for At All. Perhaps because he was so good at describing it and it is opposite everything I hold dear. But if you're looking for an immersive world...he certainly achieved that!

I then decided to revisit Pern, so I dug out the Anne McCaffery books I already have and added a few more. Figured I needed something not so bloodthirsty. :) I read:

Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums. I then read one by her daughter, Dragon's Code by Gigi McCaffery. While Anne has said the books should be read in the order in which she wrote them, this one took place immediately after Dragondrums, so I snuck it in.

I continued with Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, Nerilka's Story, Dragonsdawn, The Renegades of Pern and All the Weyrs of Pern. By the time you get to Dragonsdawn, the story has become much less fantasy and much more science fiction. An interesting blend, to be sure. This puts me at halfway through the full set of Pern books (there are 12 to go!), but I needed a bit of a break, so I headed off to Barnes and Noble to find another series.

I'd read The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Finch before - and kept the book, which is a sure sign I liked it (I only keep books I might read again - take a look at those shelves! There isn't room for more!). I found the next two books in the series in the store, so picked those up. Also found some more lighthearted fantasy fare, so bought three of those, of which, I've only read The Outsourcer's Apprentice by Tom Holt so far. I also re-read The Lies of Locke Lamora in prep for the next ones.

If you're keeping track, that's a total of 14 books in July and 15 books for August, with a total of 46 total for the year. Yes, you read that right. I've read 29 of the 46 books in the last two months! Considering this is the last day of the month, the book I start today will go on September's list since I won't finish it today.

Playsafe - (and yes, I've been working on a new story in there as well!), wear a mask,

Diana

Retreating, Resetting, and Reading - the new 3 R's

Right now, I should be in my third week of my residency at Storyknife in Homer, Alaska. COVID, however, put the kibosh on that - they ended up having to cancel the entire season; we can reschedule for next summer. Disappointing, but I can handle delayed gratification.

So what to do with my July instead? I'd intended the time to be used writing (and finishing? One can hope!) The Companion. Long-time readers know this is the Work Of My Heart and is a fantasy that is HUGE (currently clocking in at 150,000+ words and only halfway through). An entire month's stay in a cabin in Alaska would certainly help me get closer to the finish line.

But wait! I own a cabin in the woods. I can get away and take the time to work on it and be only an hour from home. Let's do this!

Not as easy as one might think, I discovered after spending the last ten days there all by myself. First of all, I had to clean the cabin and remind the mice that, during the summer, they live outside. Second, I have to cook all my own meals. Only problem? I don't cook. Well, I can - I just don't like to. Thankfully I married a man who is wonderful in the kitchen. But he is directing a show right now (more on that in a moment) and couldn't come down with me, so I was on my own. Thanks goodness for take-out!

Third, the cabin is remote. Perfect for privacy and no interruptions. Not so perfect when one comes up for air after a day of writing and there's no one there to talk to. At Storyknife, the authors get together for dinner and conversation. At the cabin I started talking to the chipmunks (Seriously. I even got one to take a peanut out of my hand!). 

Fourth, there are bears - and one took down a hummingbird feeder my third night there. That curtailed my walks as I know better than to wander around the woods when a bear is nearby. So mostly staying in the immediate area around the cabin.

Fifth, and this one is a plus...a BIG plus...it gave me time to read. Before I left, I visited a nearby Barnes and Noble and used up $50.00 in gift cards I'd accumulated over the past two Christmases. Bought six books: the third in a trilogy I'd started and wanted to finish, two books in the start of a six-book trilogy, another single book that started a trilogy -- and yes, these are all fantasies, which are my favorite to read. The fifth and sixth books were a stand-alones but one of them had been on my list for a while. Took them all with me -and what a pleasure it's been. 

As for the amount of writing I did during those ten days? I averaged 1000 words/day, although some days I didn't write (the bear really threw me for a loop and I spent the day in a funk) and other days I wrote lots (breaking the 2000 word barrier at one point). 

So, you might think The Companion has moved forward by 10,000 words, right? 

Nope. Not even by a single word.

Why? 

At the start of June, I came across a story I'd started a year ago. I'd written a few thousand words on it, then set it aside. That day, I realized I knew what happened next, so I wrote it. And then I wrote what happened after that...and now THAT story is 10,000 words to the good.

Not giving clues as to what it's about - or even to the genre. Don't want to jinx it. But if the characters keep talking (and they haven't stopped even though I came home this weekend because of the heat - and to do laundry), I should be finished by the end of August or early September. Then it will be off for edits and - God willin' and the creek don't rise - there will be a new Diana Hunter book ready by October!

And no, I don't even have a title for it yet. One thing at a time.

Here's the list of books I read since my last Books update:

March: finished Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (then COVID hit and I was too busy putting my Comp I class online to read anything else)

April: The English Wife, and The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig. Also When I Was Wicked by Julia Quinn (still in COVID mode, so not much reading - too much scrambling)

May: a Nora Roberts novella (can't remember the title); also a Debbie Macomber novella (and the name escapes me. Forgot to write these two down). Also read Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara - which is a very scary book because it details the events leading to the American Revolution but it reads likes today's headlines. Recommended!

June: didn't read a single book. Not one. Retreated, reset, and remodeled a closet (see below).

July: Here's the list so far:

Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr by Crouse & Crouse (this was a young adult book I'd had as a kid. After watching the musical, I dug it out and was surprised at how well-written it was)

A Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London (romance)

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (ostensibly a science fiction, but deals with a pandemic. Written in the 1990's, it also reads as if she's simply reporting today's headlines - and social media posts. Recommended!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Loved the series - loved the book. :)

A Promise of Fire, A Breath of Fire and Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet. Fantasy erotic romance trilogy. Hot and really good.

The Selection, The Elite, and The One by Kiera Cass. I'd bought only the first and ended up buying ebooks of the remaining two because I wanted to know what happened. Young adult fantasy.

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. This is the six-part series where I bought only the first two books. Have now ordered the rest of the series - another good one! Will be starting the second book today.

So, twenty-eight books so far this year. I'm behind!

Oh! And that thing my hubby's directing? Geneva Theatre Guild is producing Almost, Maine - it's a wonderful series of scenes (no more than two people on the stage at any time) that take place in Almost, Maine. They're doing it online, live. The performers are scattered - one's in New York City, several are in Rochester, NY, others are in various locales around the Finger Lakes. But this is NOT a Zoom call production. This is live theatre where you would swear the two actors are in the same room. Come check it out - this is the future!

Play safe, and wear a mask!

Diana

PS. Before and after pics of the closet remodel. This is off my study - probably deserves a post in an of itself, but am proud of what I got done!

Before: Not 1, but 2 layers of
wallpaper
to be scraped off!

After: painted, lit, and NEATLY
 filled

     

Books for 2020 - part 1

Each year I start out with the best of intention: I'm going to keep track of all the books I read. Each year I get exactly the same result: 'round about summer, I get busy and forget to write down what I read while at the cabin or on vacation and then September comes and I start teaching and the whole list falls apart. I still read, I just forget to write them down.

What will make this year any different? Who knows? But I'm gonna give it my best shot - again.

So far this year I've been revisiting previously-read books. My son and I got into a really deep discussion about Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives series and he (my son) ran circles around me. I just couldn't remember the details. So, that massive three-book (so far) series, was first on my list. My husband began with Warbreaker, a different Sanderson book, so I re-read that one, too, so we could talk about it. Then he started the Mistborn series - he prefers listening to books, so it takes him longer than it takes me, but I started that series again as well.

To date, I've read (all by Brandon Sanderson)

The Way of Kings
Words of Radience
Oathbringer
Warbreaker
Mistborn; the Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of the Ages
The Alloy of Law

...and several short stories out of Arcanum Unbounded (these are short pieces that didn't fit in the novels or were written for other purposes -sort of like deleted or extra scenes).

I am currently reading Shadows of Self and will be finishing with The Bands of Mourning, the rest of the Alloy of Law series.

And that brings me up-to-date. Not bad. 'Course, it's only Februrary...

Play safe!
Diana

My Summer Vacation

It's been too long! Ya gotta love summer, though. This is the time, for me anyway, where creativity renews. I spend long hours reading, playing games, traveling, cleaning out old boxes of stuff, and soaking up the warmth. It rarely gets too hot for me here in the Finger Lakes and on the few days it does, well, that's why we invented air conditioning.

Mostly though, I prefer to be outside on the front porch (which has had a MAJOR overhaul this summer. After 100+ years, the railings had rotted too far to be saved and needed replacing, as did the front foot of the decking. Last summer I kept a plant stand over the section that, if you stepped on it, you'd go through. This summer it's beautiful and new and shiny!). Out there, in our outdoor living room, I can read a book, play puzzle games on my tablet or phone, visit with neighbors, and listen to the cicadas singing in the trees. I can just...be.

I did get some traveling in...went on a cruise with my daughter, who works for Celebrity Cruises. She's a production manager and her last cruise of her current contract was the Independence Day cruise. Spent Canada Day docked in Halifax and the Fourth of July in Boston Harbor. The best part of the trip, though? Watching my daughter work in a professional capacity. I'm so proud of her! She's cool, efficient, and people went out of their way to tell me how much they loved having her as a boss. Made my mamma's heart swell with pride, it did!

You would think, with all this time just existing, that I'd have read a great many books on that porch. Well, you'd be wrong. Being in the moment means exactly that - being in the present moment, not in someone else's world. Not even in a world I create. So my reading has dropped off. Most years, this is the time I start forgetting to record what I read so I never end up with a full year's worth of reading. This year, I did better.

So here are the books I read for June and July (since I haven't posted any of them!). You'll see I finished off the Pink Carnation series, then went nuts with the genres.

JUNE
By Lauren Willig:
     The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
     The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
     The Orchid Affair
     The Garden Intrigue
     The Passion of the Purple Plumeria
     The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla
     The Lure of the Moonflower

(Sidenote: I read all those at the cabin before I left on my cruise. Can you tell I enjoy those books? Read the entire series straight through over a six-week period!)

JULY
A Christmas Promise by Thomas Kincade (yes, the painter) and Katherine Spencer
Murder at The Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell (I picked up her book AT The Breakers, which we visited on an excursion)
Captain Quirk by Dennis William Hauck (a not-very-flattering biography of William Shatner)
Born of Legend by Sherrylin Kenyon (probably not the best book to read as my 1st Kenyon book. I was lost most of the time)

I also read two romances during this month, but those I did forget to write down and I can't even remember the authors. I know I tried a Fern Michaels on the ship, but honestly? The editing was so bad, I just couldn't get past the first chapter. Sorry, Ms. Michaels, but I passed it on.

So what are you all doing for your summers?

Play safe,
Diana

Ah, summer fun!

I really have no good excuse for not posting - I've been alternately scraping the porch before my husband rebuilds and paints it, going to the cabin just because I can, and drinking lots of malted milkshakes. :)

Seriously. Have you had a chocolate malt? I'm on a crusade to bring them back. I like mine with extra chocolate and triple the malt. Yum!

I've done some writing in there as well. Nearly ten years ago I started a murder mystery set in the Smith Opera House. Went on a historical tour of the place recently (thanks, Chris, for a whole new set of ideas!) and got inspired to dig it out and see if something can be done with it. Wrote an entire new first chapter for it and mapped out the whodunnit part. Will be working on that for the next few months.

After I go on a ten-day cruise first.

Yep, leaving on my 38th wedding anniversary - and going without my wonderful hubby. For the first time in all those years, we're taking separate vacations this summer. It feels weird. Several people have told me its a great way to add some spark - I know I'll miss him while I'm gone and I expect half the time I'll be thinking, "Oh, I wish Steven could see this!" But I'm traveling with my daughter who works for Celebrity Cruises as a stage manager and staying in her cabin, so I won't be alone. And I am QUITE excited to see my daughter, as she's been gone since January. This is her last cruise of her current contract, so she gets to come home with me. And since the port is only five hours from where we live, I'm driving down. She's very excited that, once she gets off the ship, she doesn't have to take a plane or two before doing a five hour drive. We get off the ship, walk to the garage, and drive home. Easy-peasy!

For the record, lest any of you feel sorry for the hubby I'm leaving at home, he's going to Ireland at the end of July for a 10-day plein air event. He and another artist are going together and are renting a car. They'll stay with a host family near Wexford, Ireland and spend much of their time painting Ireland's beautiful southeastern coast. Why am I not going with him? Because 1) I won't drive in Ireland so I'd have to go wherever he paints and 2) I learned last year when we went to three plein air events in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, that watching an artist paint? Is literally watching paint dry.

And yes, I've done some reading over the past several weeks. Just a few books. Here's May's list:

A Play of Heresy	Margaret Frazer	mystery
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation	Lauren Willig	mystery
The Masque of the Black Tulip	Lauren Willig	mystery
The Deception of the Emerald Ring	Lauren Willig	mystery
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose	Lauren Willig	mystery
The Mischief of the Mistletoe	Lauren Willig	mystery

You may note that the first one was the last in the series that I read in April. The rest are all part of a wonderful series that presumes the Scarlet Pimpernel (one of my favorite books) was a real person and that there was an entire network of flower-named spies solving mysteries. There are a few more in that series, but I read them in June, so will include the titles later.

As you can tell, the good weather has put me outside more often than not, so not only have I not posted, I didn't read quite as many books in May as I have in previous months. June's numbers will be similarly low - and for the same reason.

That's all for now - stay tuned for more information on the Smith Opera House Mystery!

Oh, and when you visit the website for the Smith, you'll see an ad for Spamalot! My hubby is directing that - so if you're in the area, come see it - and me!

Play safe,

Diana

Time flies!

Lilacs out my window, 2018

Wow, we're a third of the way through May already! It is my favorite time of year and lately I've decided May is my favorite month - mostly because of the flowers. From the crocus that announce spring commences through the tulips with their rainbow of colors to the lilacs that are already blossoming in Highland Park (mine aren't yet, but will be soon - the picture is from this time last year), the earth brightens and the world is renewed. And did I mention the bright green of new grass? Definitely my favorite time of year.

April, however, is a bit gloomy and unpredictable here in the Finger Lakes. We've had everything from snow and ice to rain to sun - all to prepare us for May, but gloomy nonetheless. Which is why I spent most of April indoors, reading and writing.

To that end, below is my April reading list. It's still extensive, although May's will be considerably shorter as I've already spent much of it outdoors. In fact, my hubby tried to call me on both the house phone and my cell phone yesterday to tell me he was bringing wings home for lunch, as I found out when he got home with the wings. He asked me why I didn't answer either phone and I told him, "I was outside, first hanging the laundry, then scraping the balcony (which is a sorry state and truly needs some TLC), then sweeping the walk, then daydreaming about the containers I would plant next week." He asked why I didn't take my cell phone with me and I said, "Because I was enjoying the outside!" Who needs to be disturbed by a phone when I was listening to the birds?

Here's my April list, a little late:

Star Trek: Vulcan's Forge	Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz	science fiction
Star Trek: Shadows of the Sun	Michael Jan Friedman	Science fiction
Star Trek: The Three-Minute Universe	Barbara Paul	Science fiction
Warrior's Bride	Gerri Russell	romance
Border Lord	Haywood Smith	romance
A Play of Dux Moraud	Margaret Frazer	mystery
Angel Mine	Sherryl Woods	romance
Gentle Warrior	Julie Garwood	romance
The Gift	Julie Garwood	romance
A Play of Knaves	Margaret Frazer	mystery
A Play of Lords	Margaret Frazer	mystery
A Play of Treachery	Margaret Frazer	mystery
Guys and Dolls	Damon Runyon	fiction

I have a lot of Star Trek books I've collected over the years and am working my way through them. Most of them can be read in a day, although that in no way detracts from their enjoyment. Same with the romances. The Margaret Frazer books are absolutely delightful and the Damon Runyon book is just plain fun. To be honest, though, I'm not finished with it. May happened, so you'll see it again on my May list.

Go outside and enjoy the newness!

Play safe,
Diana

Of Memory Lane and Reading Lists

Before my mom passed away in January, she gave me a bin marked "Mom and Dad's Treasures - 57 Years Worth". And she wasn't kidding, in either the fact that they're treasures, or the fact that it was chock-full of papers and photos going back over five decades.

Most of what was in there I'd seen before, but much had been forgotten. The birthday cards we kids had given her, the Mother's Day notes and the letters sent between family. People I haven't thought of in years suddenly standing before me on the pages of old newspaper clippings and letters. It's been a wonderful trip down Memory Lane but the bin also posed a bigger question: What happens to all this once I pass on?

To answer that, I've been going through each envelope in the bin and divvying things up. My sister and brother are getting all the cards they sent Mom and Dad over the years and whatever pictures that pertain to them (there really aren't a lot of pictures. Mom split those up years ago). The stuff that pertains to me will reside in the bin for my kids to look at, store, give away, recycle.

Of course, going through their bin made me think of all the stuff I have hanging around here that's just sitting in bins, so I've hauled them out and have been going through those as well. I tell you, I might as well work in a museum!

In fact, I feel much like a curator, making decisions about what to keep, what to recycle, what to give away. Ever since the kids were little, I've kept a binder for each year. In it are news articles, programs, flyers...anything that helps tell the story of that year. Most are one-inch notebooks, but some years are a little more full - and so need bigger notebooks.

The Years of Our Lives

This shelf contains the notebooks from 1998- present day. I'm nearly out of room. I figure two, maybe three more years I need another shelf. 

But I can't tell you how often we check the notebooks to see when we did something or when we went where. I've scrapbooked most of our vacations (see below for a note about THAT!), so those are interspersed with the appropriate years. And they stick out at odd levels because I recently added the calendars for each year to the notebook itself (prior to this, the calendars were just stuck in a bin - like SO much else!).

Regarding vacations - some are in the 12 X 12 scrapbooks, some are in regular binders, some are within the year's notebook, depending on the length of the time away. HOWEVER, I recently brought down a bin that held not one, but TWO vacations I never got around to putting into anything. There they sit, the journals, the photos, the receipts - everything- each in a plastic bag waiting for me to remember they exist.

My husband recently got into the trip along Memory Lane as well since in that same bin was a smaller box of letters he'd received before we got married. He got a LOT of letters when he was in college - and he kept them all. So cool to read notes from friends he hasn't seen in years - and several he sees often. But it was the letter from his Dad that brought him up short - the only letter his dad ever sent to him in college. What a true treasure it is now.

Of course, I've been reading as well - my book list for March is below. You'll note the genre are varied, as are the authors. 

Moonlight in the Morning	Jude Deveraux	romance
The Name of the Wind	Patrick Rothfuss	fantasy
The Slow Regard of Silent Things	Patrick Rothfuss	fantasy
The Wise Man's Fear	Patrick Rothfuss	fantasy
Change of Heart	Jude Deveraux	romance
Dragon Wing	Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman	fantasy
O'Hurley's Return	Nora Roberts	romance
Lilac Lane	Sherryl Woods	romance
The Last Promise	Richard Paul Evans	romance
Star Trek: Killing Time	Della Van Hise	SF
Star Trek: Prime Directive	Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens	SF
The Real James Herriot	Jim Wright	biography
Mount Vernon Love Story	Mary Higgins Clark	biography

The last two I put on the list, but I didn't actually read them. I STARTED them, but gave up. Both too dry.

And yes, I like most Star Trek books - and have nearly fifty of them. Have decided to move some from my TBR pile into the pile on the bookshelves. :)

FWIW, I'm really enjoying Patrick Rothfuss' series, although I didn't realize until I finished Wise Man's Fear that the next book might still be years away. Sigh. Dragon Wing is the first book in a seven-book series and I didn't like it enough to keep going.

Between the scrapbooking and the reading, I haven't done much writing other than writing up explanations for the notebooks to put items in context, although I have started a new erotic romance that has been capturing my imagination for a while (nothing like burying the lead!) 

Play safe!

Diana

What I've been reading...

It will probably surprise no one to discover I spent most of February immured in my chair with the blanket pulled up and the heater on...reading escapist romances. The wind was howling (some small branches down but no major damage), the temperatures in the single digits (Fahrenheit here, so at least they were on the plus side), and the snow came in big flakes that would be perfect for Christmas, except it was February and I'm so over snow...

So, what did I read? Here's the list:

This Matter of Marriage	Debbie Macomber	romance
Wishes	Jude Deveraux	romance
Montana	Debbie Macomber	romance
Ever After	Jude Deveraux	romance
True Love	Jude Deveraux	romance
For All Time	Jude Deveraux	romance
Lavender Morning	Jude Deveraux	romance
The Librarians & the Pot of Gold	Greg Cox	fantasy
Devil's Daughter	Lisa Kleypas	romance
Philomena	Martin Sixsmith	biography
Heartwishes	Jude Deveraux	romance
Mystic Warrior	Tracy & Laura Hickman	fantasy

You'll notice a lot of Jude Devereaux in there - she was one of my mom's favorite authors. Since I'm still working on the books in my mom's TBR pile at the time of her death, most of what I've grabbed and curled up with have been romances. Several of these books all took place in the same town.

You'll note a Librarian's book in there - I LOVED that series. Erudite, funny, well-written - it was a must-see for us every week. It got cancelled this year but I'm still holding out hope there will be a few more movies. The series started as three movies, so it can end that way, too, right? In the meantime, there are books - and I need to find more of them. This one was a Christmas present.

Philomena is also on the list: this has been on my own TBR pile for over a year. I haven't yet seen the movie and didn't realize how serious it was, but am glad I read it. Its going to be a bit before I can see the movie, though. Let me give you a warning: this book deals with some serious issues and will make you very angry. Very. Angry.

The Hickman's have written a LOT of books (the Dragonlance series, for example), and I'd gotten this one several years ago when I asked for books for Christmas. It's the first in a series and after reading it, I'm not interested in reading the rest. 

Yes, I've also been writing - and scrapbooking and doing family tree stuff. I'm not teaching this semester (one class cancelled due to low enrollment and one taken away and given to a full-timer who didn't have a full load due to a cancellation. Sucks to be low man on the totem pole). Not teaching has given me a taste of what true retirement will look like. I have to say...it ain't a bad place to be!

Read on and play safe!

Diana

Books I'm reading

I have a lot to say about this month - but am not yet ready to say it. Instead, I'm just going to record here the books I've read this month - and you'll see they're nearly all romances (the Outlander books sort of qualify as romances, but they're also historical fiction, science fiction, a little bit of fantasy, and a whole lot of good reading).

So, for the month of January - 10 books in total (yes, I know I still have a day to go and with the wind chills at -22, there's a good chance I'll have one more book to add to this later...):

Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon
Written in My Own' Heart's Blood - Diana Gabldon
Christmas in Evergreen - Nancy Naigle
Merry and Bright  - Debby Macomber
Moonlight Masquerade - Jude Deveraux
The Stormy Petrel - Mary Stewart
The Christmas Bouquet - Sherryl Woods (see note below)
Touched by Angels - Debbie Macomber
Only Beloved - Mary Balough
Divine Evil - Nora Roberts

Concerning all but the Diana Gabaldon books, these are all from my mom's TBR pile. I'd gone to a library sale over a year ago and for Christmas 2017, we all gave her books (over 20 of them). What I didn't know what that she'd pretty much slowed down on her reading. Where she used to consume about a book a day, she now took weeks to finish one because of the neropathy (sp?) in her hands. She just couldn't hold a book for a long period of time.

In any case, Sherryl's book was one she'd started and not had the opportunity to finish before she died. I finished it for her.

Play safe,
Diana

Of libraries, great books, and career paths...

I discovered the library when I was in second grade. That was the Big Year we were allowed to visit the Bookmobile and take out books. Somewhere in those early years, I found Harold and the Purple Crayon – and I took it out as one of my two choices as often as I could. I loved that book, although I couldn’t have told you why. At least, not then. Now I suspect it had something to do with creating one’s own reality – much the way I love to do when I write stories.

By fourth or fifth grade, my dad was taking us for weekly visits to our local library branch on Winton Road in Rochester, NY (my hometown). This was a brand-new building with a large children’s room and more books than I’d ever seen in one place. I loved it. My dad would let my brother and I go – and being off the leash, I suspect, was part of the allure. We were free to roam throughout the room and read as many books as we wanted while he sat down and read the newspaper – or chose books of his own from the “Big People” room (as I thought of the main reading room). When he came into the children’s room, it was time to show him the two choices we’d made and take them up to the desk to get them stamped, just like an adult. Heaven!

Somewhere in fifth grade or so, I discovered the Sue Barton books in the children’s section. Sue Barton, if you’ve never heard of her, was a nurse. Throughout the seven books in the series, you followed her all the way from her first moments in training (Sue Barton, Student Nurse), all the way through getting her cap, getting married to the handsome young intern she met at the start (now a doctor, of course), through her adventures as a Visiting Nurse, a Superintendent of Nurses, and eventually, a staff nurse. I read them all. Over and over again, to my mother’s chagrin. “There are other books in the library, you know,” she told me when I restarted the series for the third time.

“I know,” I told her. “But I’m going to be a nurse…and these are good books!”

Well, my dream of being a nurse took a nosedive in 6^th grade when we were shown a 16 mm print of a cornea transplant. I stopped re-reading Sue Barton, and by the time I got to 7^th grade, the Winton Road Library had a new section: Young Adult. There I discovered Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and the whole new world of science fiction. Sue remained a favorite memory, although I didn’t take her books out anymore.

Time marches on, the newsreels tell us, and I found other parts of the library as well (an entire section dedicated to plays!). New genre, new interests, and eventually, new libraries to explore – all of which left the children’s room at the Winton Road Library in the dust.

Recently I had cause to go through some of the boxes of books in our attic, most of which contain books I had from my childhood. I’d kept them for my own kids, but discovered (as all parents do), that my reading tastes were not theirs. In order to make more room on my study shelves, I’d boxed up all their books as well as all my own. In an effort to streamline (and make more room in the attic), I decided to hoe out some of those books. Time to pass them along.

And who should I discover in the dark recesses of the attic, and my equally cobwebby memories? Sue Barton! I’d found four of the books by Helen Dore Boylston at a library sale before my kids were born and had bought them out of my remembered love of them. But I hadn’t re-read them at that time. For whatever reason, they had simply gone into the boxes for storage.

Now, however, I couldn’t resist. With some (okay, a LOT) of trepidation, I opened Sue Barton, Student Nurse. What if it didn’t stand up to the test of time? Would it be as wonderful as I remembered? How disappointed would I be if I discovered it was terrible?

I read the first few pages, pages that were brown and fragile with age. Then I read a few more. And just one more chapter…I was hooked. The writing is still engaging, still fresh, and still pulls me in after all this time. While dated (it was written in 1936 and medicine has made some advances since then), its still a wonderful story about a red-headed nurse and the adventures she has along the way. While we no longer have hospital wards and nurses no longer have to wrap their own bandages, nurses still wear soft-soled shoes and work harder than anyone realizes. The books still stand as a testament to a profession that deserves our respect – and our thanks.

So thank you, nurses – and thank you Winton Road Library, for allowing me to take those books out over and over and over. You gave me a love of reading – and reading takes me to new worlds and shows me new ideas. I passed by you not too long ago, and wished I had time to stop in. Would you, like Sue Barton, have withstood the test of time? Will you still have that new building/old books smell that I came to love? Will people still be sitting around reading and will the children’s room still hold magic? I no longer live in your neighborhood, but I do believe I may have to visit and see.

Play safe,

Diana, who is feeling nostalgic – and who will proudly admit she read not one, but TWO Sue Barton books that day. Two more to go! J

New titles, a sale and reading!

It may have seemed as if I stopped writing, but I really haven't. I've just taken on a bit more than I wanted this semester and am teaching three classes. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Except they're timed so that I'm out of the house Every Single Day. Grrr. Won't make that mistake again. I retired for a reason - I want to write full time!

It has come to my attention, however, that the purchasing page was woefully out of date. That has been rectified. You can now find the page links to Stress Relief, Love Unleashed (which you can also get in print!), and This Journey We Call Life as well as all my other currently-released titles.

Cyber Monday sale!

Of course, Cyber Monday is coming and we're going to start a day early. Those three titles are all on sale for 50% off from today until Sunday, December 3rd. Just go to Smashwords and use the coupons below to get your discount. Remember, you can download any format you need for any device you use.

Click on the title to go to its Smashwords page.

Stress Relief - coupon code   FS68Z

Love Unleashed - coupon code  YC24K

This Journey We Call Life - coupon code   HJ94B  
BTW, did you know the cover for TJWCL was painted by my husband? The painting hangs in my work room at the cabin. :)

But wait! There's more!

And if you're looking for Christmas stories, don't forget the 12 Days of Christmas (Bondage) and A Devil in Winter, also 50% off!

12 Days of Christmas (Bondage) - coupon code   HG45W

A Devil in Winter - coupon code FN46E

And finally, what I've been reading...

The Summerhouse by Jude Devereaux (a good afternoon's read)

The Black Tulip by Laura Willig (a re-read, which should tell you something!)

three other romances I forgot to write down!

Currently I'm finishing up The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (good, but a bit indulgent)

To sum up - I'm still writing, although a bit slower, so those new titles will be coming soon; there's a great Cyber Monday sale that starts today and goes all week (50% off!), and I'm reading a bunch of stories. Oh! And my kids got me into Skyrim, so I'm all about killing dragons lately. Hey, someone's got to do it!

Play safe and buy books! (and leave reviews)

Diana