February 2024

We’re leaving early for our trip south in our camper van—it’s always dicey to trust the weather app but it says a good window for safe roads will be around February 7. So we’re packing like crazy people, and I’m finishing up book promotion efforts before we leave New Hampshire for my “between launches” recovery vacay. I need a lot of nothing time. Two books in six months. What was I thinking!?

March 2024

Our little family, spouse, me, two dogs, are still on the road, living in our tiny home (camper van) at a friend’s in Florida. It’s my “between launches” recovery trip, where I get to paint, read anything I want, sleep a lot, swim, and lie around staring at nothing. Much needed. These past months have been thrilling and brutal.

April 2024

My launch for Last Bets was a lovely experience—99 people registered for the zoom event and I was grateful for Ginger Eager, astute interviewer, and Rachel Moulton, who handled the audience Q&A, and every person who came and contributed! The novel is out in the world and getting great reviews so far. Whew!

At the same time I found out A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue is a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. What an honor. Fingers crossed . . .

May 2024

Podcast tour has begun! I’m being interviewed about 3-4 times a week during the next months, talking about all my books and writing and my food journalism career and the risks of making the leap into fiction at age 50. I’m encountering some amazing hosts, really fascinating conversations, and I look forward to the pace easing a bit next month! And if you’d like to follow along with my podcast tour, check out my Spotify channel.

June 2024

I’ve had the pleasure of being a guest on almost 35 podcasts now. It’s an amazing experience, and doing 3-4 a week was a stretch, because each one asked me to dive deeper into why I write and how my life echoes this. Many of the podcast hosts wanted to talk about creativity in general. My life journey with art as well as writing. I have loved the conversations, and I’m much more at ease with the questions. But it does require me being “on camera” and I am happy this month to have less bookings, so I can get dirty in the garden longer. Our peonies and iris are blooming wild, the first strawberries are ready to pick, and I need to thin the peach trees because they’ve produced so many, the branches might collapse when they’re ready to harvest. I’m reading a lot more for pleasure now, too—refreshing my creative brain!

July 2024

While I’m resting (and gardening!) this month, exciting things are happening. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, released in October, just became a finalist for the 18th National Indie Excellent Awards! A big deal. It’s also a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. I worked very hard on that book and I’m so glad it’s getting recognition.