Kate Flora: I had a lot of plans for how much I’d accomplish this week. Finish tweaking that police procedural/serial killer book to enter in a contest. Review my other dark police procedural and decide whether to submit it. Get out the editor’s comments on the Dog book and start revising. Create a new graphic to promote my romantic suspense, Wedding Bell Ruse.
Then there were the administrative tasks. Finish organizing the “Writing Cops Right” panel for Sisters in Crime. Put together the agenda for the February meeting. Get tax materials together for the accountant. Make a million phone calls to locate a prescription drug that’s out of stock nearly everywhere. Call an exterminator to get these darned mice out of my house.
The list goes on and on.
There’s the research I need to do so I can I finally rewrite a new Thea Kozak mystery, as my fan letters keep asking me to do. Riding to tai chi, my friend Margaret gives me an idea. Now it must be worked into a plot.
Then there were all the things that needed to be packed and toted to the post office to mail. The clothes I never wear to go to the consignment shop. Try on that new bathing suit and see if it will work for a Florida vacation. Seriously, can anyone try on a bathing suit in February and not be horrified?
Go to my tai chi class. Work out with my trainer. Walk my thrice a week four miles.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Well. I was on a roll. I got the manuscript off to the contest. I went to tai chi. I wrote several chapters in the book I turn to whenever I stuck in my “real” work. And then the phone call came saying: Oh yes, that bump on your leg that you thought didn’t look quite right. The one your dermatologist didn’t think was a problem? Well guess what. It’s a skin cancer. Not the worst one. Not the best one. The middle one that still has to be taken seriously.
So my work day became holding on the phone, trying to make an appointment for the surgery to have it removed. I got lucky and found the person who wasn’t dismissive and wanted to schedule it for April sometime. And miracle of miracles…got an appointment to be sliced and diced this morning.
For a while, at least, I don’t have to worry about running errands. My leg is wrapped in an enormous bandaged and I’m supposed to stay off my feet. No trainer. No long walks. So, since writers are also supposed to be avid readers, I’ve got a few days off to lie about and read. Northeaster by Cathie Pelletier. The new biography of Joshua Chamberlain. Foster by Claire Keegan. All the reading I’d planned to do between Christmas and New Year’s which got derailed.
So, when I’ve finished them, dear readers, what books should I read next?
Nice post ✍️
Goodness! Good luck with the recovery. Take the much needed reading sabbatical until healed. I’m halfway through “Who to Believe” by Edwin Hill and greatly enjoying it. Write on.
The Buoyant Letters of Mimsy Bell … In which an 80 year old female rock star returns to her Maine hometown to settle her score….with the river that took her boyfriend decades ago. A surprising and satisfying epistolary novel. Debut of Maine author Laurel Dodge published by Littoral Books
I hope your recovery is fast and smooth, and that you persisted in having it checked after the first doc said it was no big deal. Sending good energy out to you. Enjoy your enforced reading time!
SO GLAD you persisted . . .
Be well and kudos to you for persisting.
Try Alice McDermott’s “Absolution” or even better and more peaceful try Blue Butterfield’s “Maine: a love story” Her artwork alone is worth it.
Oh, Kate. Speediest of recoveries to you. I’ve had skin cancer twice and waiting for it to crop up somewhere else again. I blame baby oil and iodine. Not a book, but if you want something entirely antithetical to a Maine winter, try watching Death and Other Details on Hulu. Filthy rich people, private cruise ship, dead body, and Mandy Patinkin, who is always fun.
Oh my gosh! Speedy recovery.
Take care of yourself!
Take care and recover quickly! I am reading The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger. He never disappoints me.
And he’s such a lovely person
Yikes — glad you caught it and got it taken care of ASAP. Why is getting medical care such a hassle? My body is a hieroglyphic record of myriad skin cancers, thanks to 5 years in the tropics with nothing but OG Coppertone (UVA and UVB? Nevah heard of ’em!) xoxo