Recap

Strange week filled with ups and downs and serendipity and labor put into things other than writing.

I get a monthly newsletter from author Carolyn Haines. I’ve downloaded her latest Sarah Booth Delaney mystery, Bones of Holly to my eReader and will be reading it this month. In her most recent newsletter, she provided a link to a free reading of a short novella called “Junebug Fischer” by author Mandy Haynes. Here’s the description: Junebug Fischer will be ninety-six come June. She’s ready to set the record straight and let you know what really happened the summer she turned fifteen. It’s true, she killed someone, but she never killed nobody on purpose. That was purely accidental. I don’t know how long the novella will be free, but this link will enable you to either download it to your favorite reader or open it on your computer to read without downloading: link to read ‘Junebug Fischer’. I enjoyed it, and I’ll be reading more by Mandy Haynes.

December has a few challenging anniversaries, so I’m always grateful for the good stuff. A couple of high points of the week included a good update about a family member’s surgery and a photo my brother texted to a proud sister/aunt showing him with his son and grandsons. I already have that photo printed and hanging in the family and friends gallery in the hall.

For years, I’ve tried to replicate my mother’s recipe for fried corn. She gave me directions. She let me watch her do it. She told me the specific kind of fresh corn on the cob I needed to buy and how to prepare it the way she did. I have never found corn sold under that name. And I have never successfully made a batch of corn that tastes like hers. This week was no exception. I mean, the corn was fine, but it wasn’t hers. I’ve searched and tried online recipes. I’ve enjoyed Lynne’s version that she cooks the way her mother did. Even the best fried corn I’ve eaten doesn’t taste like my mother’s. I try this at most every two or three years, so it’s not a big deal, and in one way, my failure amuses me: my mother would like knowing she did something no one else has been able to do. (There are many others; even if she never acknowledged those, I do.)

In the few years before I was laid off from my job because of the pandemic, one of my holiday frustrations was not having the time to address and send Christmas cards to friends and family. I could start the process in December but sometimes didn’t finish it until my March birthday and, one year, even Easter. No more job meant this is one activity I’ve been able to accomplish since 2020 before Christmas. This year might be my earliest ever, partly because we were able to get a family photo in November thanks to Lindsey.

Yesterday, I dropped the first batch of cards in the mail when I had to pick up more stamps at the post office, and today, I’ll be sending the rest in the batch pictured here.

While finishing the task might not seem like a big deal, this particular activity provides me a much-needed feeling of connection. That’s helpful since I’ve drastically reduced texting and messaging using social media due to ongoing technical problems (e.g., wonky computers, Internet outages) but also the state of the world (watching billionaires have public pissing contests with one another on unnamed apps or millionaires detail their lives via “reality” shows or TikTok videos holds no allure for me at all; your mileage may vary).

I have three gifts to box and ship (once I do a little more shopping) that will include what I think are the last of my cards. After that, I can focus on the remainder of our holiday preparations, including Tom’s birthday on Christmas day, and maybe then, finally, my brain will assure me it’s okay to focus on my fictional work in progress. I need writing to feel balanced, too.

I’m ahead on one thing, though: I have my New Year’s Resolution all ready. =)