Holiday Edition
December greetings from Minnesota, where it was a brrr-worthy 21° F (-6°C) the other morning and yet someone still insisted on eating his breakfast out on the deck. You can picture me shivering in my jacket, hat, and slippers as I took the photo while Grif munched away and the water bowl to the side commenced freezing up at once. Sure, I could have made the dog eat inside by waiting him out but he looked so hopeful and I figured we probably only had a few days of snow-free deck left until March/April…and I was right, as today there was a decent dusting, and even Grif agreed that breakfast inside was the way to go.
The segmented green bowl is a “slow eater bowl” to encourage more leisurely chewing and help keep kibble down. It works, sort of? Grif still managed to gulp everything down pretty quick, after which he took the three steps down to the yard and rolled around in dirt and grass. The snow will be good for rolling around too. Grif’s a dog that generally enjoys whatever life throws his way and yes, there’s probably a lesson in there somewhere.
I bring up the segmented green bowl because writing a novel is a lot like that. You build, scene by scene, in a wide circle, until the end brings you back to the beginning in some way. (Maybe life’s like that too, if we want to get really deep about it?) If it’s a series, the novel’s end promises more to come, which is a roundabout way of saying that I’ve started work on Book 2 of the new series. Stay tuned!
A family visit to Belgrade is happening in a couple of days and I’ve lined up some good books to read on the flights there and back (one being Mur Lafferty’s Station Eternity, which I’ve been meaning to read for a while.) Calendar differences mean that we’ll be in Belgrade before the holidays proper, rather than during them. Growing up, New Year’s was the main holiday and our secular, decorated fir tree was a New Year’s tree. Nowadays, the holiday season starts on New Year’s Eve, then Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7th, and festivities conclude with the “Old” New Year on January 13. (If you’re curious why Christmas is on a different date, well, I give you the Great Schism of 1054.)
As a year ends and another is about to begin, I’d like to thank you for supporting my writing journey. I'm deeply grateful for each and every reader. Here’s to 2024 — may it bring you many good things!
My published work so far:
ALL THE WHYS OF DELILAH’S DEMISE, a near-future mystery thriller
REGARDING DUCKS AND UNIVERSES, a parallel universe whodunit
THE INCIDENT SERIES, a 3 book series, time-travel mysteries
THE FELINE AFFAIR, prequel novelette to the Incident series