It's only been forever...

The time when I was able to commission Simini Blocker

Hi. Remember me? Remember when I used to blog? No? That's okay.  We'll just start fresh. I'm trying to make sure I'm more on top of my own things. Since I hired someone to help me with social media and my website, I'm on my website a lot less. Hence, the lack of blogs. Which I'm guessing, you've managed to live without. 

But because I fought hard to remember my own passwords (and then had to go through my Facebook account settings) to get in here, I figured I better say something. 
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How is it possible that the last time I blogged was when my last baseball book came out. Time has a very magical ability to stand still and race forward all at once. As many of you know, I'm now writing under a pen name, Sophie Sullivan. I managed to crack the passwords on that one too. I'm enjoying this very much-- the writing under two names, not the inability of my brain to retain the most basic of information. 

My youngest daughter turned fifteen this month. My oldest is eighteen and off to university in September. I still teach full time in addition to writing books and I'm still married to the same wonderful man who provides me with endless food and delicious snacks (including Danish apple bars this weekend). 

I'm excited to say that I'm working on a new cozy mystery series for Tule Publishing. I've wanted to work with them for a while now and I'm so excited I'm getting to do another small town sleuthing series. The first book will be out next August. It's called Home is Where the Body Is. I think you'll like Annie Abbott and the cozy little town of Rainbow Falls. 

Like all of you, we've been living a pretty low key pandemic life. We're navigating some ups and downs that come with age and life. I'm reading books, painting rocks, and writing as many words as I can. Isn't it funny that I can write a book but not remember my passwords? 

Summer is coming close. By the end of this month, I'll be finished my second cozy for Tule which is tentatively titled High School, Homecoming, and Homicide. I'm looking forward to having time with my family, hopefully enjoying some summer sun, and being able to see small groups of people again. We were supposed to go to New York this summer to celebrate my oldest's graduation. We can't, which is sad but certainly not as sad as other things so we'll just hang out this summer and make plans for the next one. 

I'm turning 45 this week. I thought I'd feel....not older but maybe more mature. Like maybe I would have more answers than I do. Like my passwords, maybe I should find some  and write them down, keep them in a safe place for when I need them. Even if I had a secret stash of reasons for some of the questions my brain goes through daily, I guess there would always be more to know. More to wonder. Am I doing enough? Am I doing a good job? At writing? Friending? Momming? Wifing? Teaching? Definitely not peopleing. I'm pretty sure those skills have been tucked away into a corner. I'll find them eventually, as the world opens up. Hopefully I'll be able to have conversations that aren't a collection of quotes from the shows we've been binging. 

Since I last blogged, I feel like everything and nothing has happened to all of us. I have no words of wisdom or identifiable message. I just figured, it's been so long, I should say SOMETHING. Even if it was nothing.