Manuscript edits with my muse, Peanut

When I came home several days ago, my jaw hurt. It wasn’t an onset of dental problems. It was from smiling so much. I had spent a delightful hour with a local Tucson book group discussing my first book, Thinking of Miller Place. One of the consistent remarks about this book is how my idyllic summer childhoods triggered memories for readers of their “Miller Place” whether it was a beach in Rockaway, NY, a farm in Pennsylvania, or a tent in Oregon. Even more affirming are the readers who share their decisions to adopt my Miller Place as theirs to fill a barren childhood memory bank. The power of words!

Earlier this fall, I found myself settling in for a couple of hours of storytelling, both as a listener and teller. We claimed our seats in the shady almost romantic courtyard of La Cocina where the Pima County Library Foundation had taken up residence for two days of Tucson Meet Yourself (an annual three-day festival celebrating the diversity and culture of Arizona). Think food, music, crafts, food, bands, dancing, food. I was signed up to tell stories for a half hour right after my poet friend Bridget Magee, and right before… Well, I honestly don’t remember because I was so jazzed with the audience response when I shared “Dad and Carol” from my first book and “Craggy” from my upcoming second book, Seedlings, Stories of Relationships.

Yes, stuffed in between every nook and cranny of these events and life in general, I have devoted hours glued to my computer chair. The only reason I would give up hiking in the gorgeous Catalina Mts., pass up a dance class, and even personal time with my darling husband, to sit alone for hours while my mouse hand gets truly stiff is for a second book.

Seedlings, Stories of Relationships pays tribute to characters in various relationships—marriages, professional interactions, friendships, remarriages, and that particular phase of life known as retirement. Most of the stories in the collection are lighthearted, some not so, but I think they’ll still touch your heart. And the book is coming Feb. 2014! Adding to the computer chair magnetism is the time for and lessons with younger and savvy tech gurus who are escorting me as gently as possible around the social media world. I’m told I’m a digital tourist and anyone not yet on Social Security is a digital native. And so they are helping me bring my Seedlings to the online world.

So that’s why it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I still can’t get used to the word blog as either a noun or verb, but I’m into the action it takes. Meet me and Seedlings out there on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Google + and, of course, on my website. Heck, I may even accept that Twitter lies in my future.