2006 Archives

2006

Thanks so much for coming to visit my website. And for those of you who are returning, yes, this is a current update! I’d have written one sooner, but things were up in the air and changing fast, so I’ve waited till they finally shook out. My granny used to say that life is what happens when you’re making other plans, and I’m no exception. But the Good Lord always watches over me, sends me gracious friends and helpers, and keeps me from ever getting bored!

WHAT’S UP WITH MY BOOKS?

Before I go into recent personal developments, let me thank those of my readers who bought and loved The Red Hat Club Rides Again. It debuted ten places lower (which is better) on the New York Times Extended Best Seller List. Me and my creditors, (most of whom are pharmacies and doctors) thank you very much! As always, please tell anyone you think might enjoy my work about my books. You are my greatest advertisements!

Due to scheduling difficulties, Wedding Belles, the third book about Georgia and her wonderful group of friends, did not come out this fall, but will be released in the future. I know all my Red Hat Club fans are waiting anxiously, and I promise, you’ll have fun with Wedding Belles. This time, Georgia’s brilliant twenty-four-year-old daughter comes home for Christmas after completing her doctorate in theoretical mathematics (Georgia can’t even balance a check book.) and announces that she’s getting married . . . . as wife number three to her father’s best friend, Wild Man Wade from ATO at GA Tech. Georgia realizes her daughter has no idea what she’s getting into, but the girls swing into action, and marriage, mothers-in-law, and middle-aged grooms were never more fun.

After that, I’m planning for Ladies of the Lake to come next, the heart-warming and hilarious tale of six sisters who take the whole summer together to settle their errant grandmother’s estate and in the process, rediscover each other—and two mummified dead bodies walled up in the root cellar in great-grandpa’s masterpiece hand-carved chairs!

Every single book sale makes a difference in my career. Your purchases mean that I can continue to write funny books with a heart.

As with all my books, the novels in my Red Hat Club series can be enjoyed in any order. Each of the books explores new elements of the club’s personalities and challenges.

While you’re waiting for my next book, consider looking into my historical novels. My romance readers are some of my most loyal. Yet many others have contacted me to say that they “don’t read romance and don’t ordinarily enjoy historical novels,” but they really enjoyed my books. So if you like strong women, men who are real men, wonderful love stories, and—last but not least—accurate history, you might enjoy my award-winning, critically acclaimed historical novels set in England and Scotland.

WHAT’S UP WITH HAYWOOD?

I’ve moved back to the lake house in Georgia! It wasn’t in my original plan. Leaving my only son’s family in Boston was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but my apartment lease wasn’t renewed, and after one hip replacement, then limping around like Igor for the next three years while I waited for the pre-existing exclusion for my osteoarthritis on my health insurance to run out, I was finally able to schedule having both knees replaced with my amazing surgeon, Dr. R. Marvin Royster with the Peachtree Orthopedic Group in Atlanta.

So with the help of my friends Carolyn and Carolee and Teri and Meg and her strong son and Jean and Leslie and so many others I’d love to remember by name but can’t, I packed up all my stuff (which had been reproducing in the night since I got there, I swear). Then we cleaned up, loaded my U-Haul trailer, and I drove through the edges of a hurricane (The trailer leaked!), and made it back to Buford in two days, where I spent the next week getting the house into shape.

As with all moves, there were a few hiccups when my furniture came a week later. The pine entertainment center I’d bought for my apartment was two inches too high for the only room with enough wall space for it! So I ended up doing mad surgery, knocking off the intricate cornice with a rubber mallet while the movers waited, rolling their eyes. (I could blame the builders for the low ceiling, but we built this house. I have no earthly idea why the dining room is a scant 7’ 9”, but what can you say?) Now the once-elegant entertainment center is crowned by a jagged snaggle of raw wood, reminiscent of a hockey player without his dentures. Things being as they are, I just put the cornice pieces into a shopping bag beside it and don’t look up.

Unpacking was a lot longer and harder than packing, but I finally finished the last box on October 15, the night before my operation. I guess I could honestly say that I had to have surgery to finally get some rest!

Not that I recommend a double knee replacement as a restful experience. It was the hardest, hurtingest surgery I’ve ever gone through, but I walked to the nurses’ station the day after the operation, and I’ve been getting better every day since. (Let’s hear it for painkillers. And hisses for those blasted exercises.) Piedmont Hospital and my doctor were great, and after a week in inpatient rehab, my mama took me home to recover. Four weeks later, I was driving myself to physical therapy. I even cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my mama and my brother and his family. It was such a blessing to have them here. And Mama did all the dishes.

So that’s what’s up with me. In the midst of everything, I’ve been writing (and collecting plenty of material for future stories).

Just one more thing: God willing, I’m expecting a granddaughter in mid-December. So I’m packing up and driving back up to Boston (no trailer this time, thank goodness) to help out. I’m so honored that my daughter-in-law has asked me, and I plan to revel in both my grandson and my new granddaughter.

I thought about flying up there, but with two knees and a hip, I figure they’d scramble the SWAT Team the minute I got out of my cab at the airport.

Thanks again for checking my website. As soon as I find out anything definite about the release date for my next book, I’ll post it right away.