Life has been both good and bad to me lately, folks. I guess that’s the way things go. Sometimes, I juggle it well. Other times, not so much. There’s a popular saying that bad things come in threes. I’m here to tell you that’s crap. Bad things come in dozens and dozens, and sometimes they come all at once. It’s easy enough to adapt to one difficulty when you’re well rested and everything else in life is going smoothly, but when one difficulty is added to the top of a giant heap of other issues, sometimes that heap collapses. I’m currently playing Stressor Jenga, basically, and just managing to keep things upright. Stress, for me, murders my forward creative motion. I’d love to be buried deep in story creation right now, but guilt (?) keeps me focused on my problems, even the problems I can’t fix. Especially the problems I can’t fix.

I’m still writing a little, in spurts. My focus is Kindred Spirits, the next Marnie book, but there are a few other projects brewing as well. I’m still poking Marnie and the gang, hoping they’ll talk to me.  But every time I poke them, they point over my shoulder at that teetering tower of stress behind me, threatening to topple.

The good news is, my arthritis is wonderful this winter. Almost a non-issue. I owe that to a combination of things, I believe–CBD oil (medical grade from cannabis leaves and stalks, not hemp seed oil), hand exercises, and staying away from gluten (it personally causes me joint inflammation). I’m not advocating anyone else try these things, I’m just stating that they’re what seems to work for me. Luckily, my hands being happy means that when the stress eases off and the words DO start flowing again, I will be physically able to pounce and get this damn book (or books) wrapped. The first ten chapters are with my trusty editor– that’s right, Bossyboots McMeaniepants is on the case! Kindred Spirits, Book 6 of the Marnie Baranuik Files, is sitting at ~73k words. There were some surprises with this one. I guess that was inevitable, considering the plot direction (shhhh, no spoilers).

I hope to blog more often. I need to get this website fixed and updated; MAN, is it old and ugly. Tech has never been my strong suit. I used to do all kinds of things here. I should probably get back to that. I’m terrible at self-promotion and marketing. Ugh. Will do better!