Winter 2007

Dear Friends —

Some people find these cold months dismal and depressing, but I've always liked winter. (Growing up in the northeast, you don't have much choice about liking it.) While I eagerly anticipate the time when the earth thaws and the branches of the trees hum with life, I've always liked being inside when the days are gloomy. I've deliberately created a bright, cozy place to work, and somehow settling into my office with its bright yellow walls and my beloved books invigorates me. Being nestled here on gray days makes me feel as if I'm in living in full color, when the world is monochrome. That fills me with energy, ideas, and gives me a kind of focus I have trouble maintaining when it’s nice outside.

I am in a productive mode right now, and that’s a good thing. In the last few weeks I've received more than a few inquiries from people who read A SIMPLE GIFT and want to know what I'm doing next. It has taken me awhile to get back to the computer after finishing GIFT because I have been buying and furnishing a home on the west coast. (Those of you who have been reading my notes all along know how much my husband and I like being near the ocean.) At any rate, I'm focused on writing again.

At present I am at work on two projects. One is a contemporary women’s friendship novel. It’s about a group of women who come to rely on each other for comfort and support as they each face crises in their families, jobs, and romances. I think that as it progresses, it may have more "attitude" than the books I usually write. That’s proving to be fun for me to speak/write with a different voice. I've always believed that each book sings its own song—and with this as-yet-untitled story, that voice seems to sing with a dry humor.

The other project is a historical novel. In the research I did for one of my previous books, I became enamored with a woman who lived a remarkable life. It was a life was filled with adventure and travel, joy and tragedy, both abiding love and a need for steely self-reliance had a great deal to do with the man she married. I am deep into research on their lives now, and I think she will make a wonderful heroine.

As any of you who have read my historical novels know, I work hard on research. I am working especially hard on this one. If inserting fictional characters into history is fraught with peril, basing a story on people who really lived and breathed and had adventures is even more so. History has a good deal to say about this heroine and her hero, but trying to discern what’s right and true in their personal lives from mere wisps of information is to say the least daunting. But the more I dig into their lives, the more intrigued I am by each of them.

Since neither of these stories is currently contracted to a publisher, I am reluctant to say more about them. But I am busily at work; holed up in my bright, little nest here on the west coast and doing the thing I love most—telling stories I hope you will enjoy.

Stay warm!

December 2006 Archive

October 2006 Archive

Early Summer 2006/Farm Visit Archive

Early August 2006 Archive