Lifescapes

Unfinished Business

These days, it seems that my life is filled with works in progress. There's always a loose end somewhere: an incomplete bit that needs filling out, something untied or untidy, a project that's still under construction. Nothing ever quite seems finished. This is probably a good thing, especially because things that need doing seem to invite me into them and move me forward. And that's progress, isn't it? Sometimes, however, it feels like much of a muchness, almost too much, and I'm ready for something to be done. Once and for all.

But even when it's done, it's not, really. When the needlepoint is finished, it still needs to be framed, then hung or gifted. The first planting of potatoes is in, but will need to be hilled and probably covered against early spring frosts and watered and dug, with some served up in future dinners, others saved for seed for the next planting. The story is finished but will have to be edited, copyedited, proofread, formatted, and published. I usually have the feeling that I didn't do the story justice, quite--so I promise myself I'll do better or take it further or dig into it deeper the next time. Which leads me into the next story. And so it goes. As Bill says about our lives here at MeadowKnoll, there are too many moving parts!

Book report. There are three projects on the desk, in varying stages of completion. I've finished a full draft of The Last Chance Olive Ranch (China's 25th mystery!) but it needs another run-through before it goes to the editor at the end of March and then into the year-long publication process at Berkley's Prime Crime imprint.

Loving Eleanor will be launched in another week--if you're in the Austin area on January 31, you're invited to join  me for the grand send-off at Bookwoman. After the launch, the book goes into a year of marketing efforts, my efforts, since this is an author-published book. Booksellers and librarians, you'll find the book at Ingram, in hardcover, paperback, and large print. Librarians, it's also available as a Self-e book; look for it, if your library is in that program. Reviewers and book bloggers, it's still available as a "Read Now" from NetGalley. I'll be announcing a blog tour soon, so keep your ears open for that--and for audio, as well. Hoping to have that announcement in another week or two.

A Wilder Rose (originally author-published, then published in a new edition by Lake Union) is now officially underway as a film project with a highly-successful production company that creates features, unscripted series, documentaries, mini-series, and various movies of the week. Rose looks like she's headed for a television mini-series. I'll keep you posted on her progress, which will no doubt be slow.

On the drafting table: Chapter Six (out of 20+ chapters) in the next biographical/historical novel, The General's Women, a wartime romance about a fascinating love triangle: Kay Summersby, Ike, and Mamie. On the reading/research stack:  possibilities I'm considering for China's 26th adventure and another historical/biograhical novel. 

Garden/homestead report. Yes, I did. Really. I planted the first bed of potatoes in early January, five weeks ahead of schedule. It's been so warm (and even a little wet) that I decided to give it a try. I'll plant another around Valentine's Day, which is the usual time here in the Hill Country. Meanwhile, the spinach is up nicely (harvest about a month away) and there are lots of lovely green perennial onions. All the Girls are laying now, so we have an abundance of eggs. For supper tonight, a quiche. I made this one last week. Tonight, a Tex-Mex quiche, from the luncheon menu at China's and Ruby's tearoom.

Meanwhile, as I write this, friends in the Northeast are being hit by a godzilla of a blizzard, fueled by a godzilla of an El Nino, fueled by (naturally) global warming, fueled by the fossil energy we humans are consuming. If you're in the path of that winter monster, I hope you'll stay home, stay warm, and have a good book to read. Quiche wouldn't be a bad idea, either, if you've got a half-dozen eggs.

Reading note. The fairies, as their custom, clapped their hands with delight over their cleverness, and they were so madly in love with the little house that they could not bear to think they had finished it. ― J.M. Barried, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens 

Happy New Year!

Sandhills, heading south for the winter--very, very late. We usually see them in October, sometimes in November, never in December. But it's been warm up north (the North Pole could be as warm as we are here in Texas!), which may have delayed the annual migration of this large flock. We rushed outside and watched, open-mouthed and listening to their wild, warbling calls as they flew overhead. 

Book Report. This New Year's Day is a good day to let you know what's on the writing desk for 2016. I'll be working on another China Bayles mystery (#26--no title yet, still waiting for inspiration), and a historical/biographical novel about Eisenhower, Kay Summersby, and Mamie. The Ike/Kay/Mamie novel is already a work-in-progress, with three chapters fairly complete--aiming to finish by September. I'll work on China's mystery late in the year (it has a due date of March 2017). I'm looking forward to both of these projects with a huge enthusiasm and excitement. (Picture me doing a little happy dance here.)

There will also be two new books in the bookstores and online: Loving Eleanor on February 1 and the new China Bayles mystery, Blood Orange, on April 5.

Homestead Report. We're all buttoned up for the winter here, grateful to have missed the destructive storms that have been battering our friends to the north. In the evenings, we're treated to sights of deer, coyotes, foxes, and wild pigs and to the courting calls of the great horned owl that lives in our woods.

We can't know what's ahead, but I love the serenity of each day--especially because I have good work to do and good friends, like you. Thank you for your friendship, and best wishes for a bright and fruitful new year.

Reading note. I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something. So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever. ― Neil Gaiman 

Anticipating Lemons!

The Meyer lemon is blooming under its grow-light, while we're having our first taste of winter: freezing temps forecast for all next week. It's about time for winter, as far as I'm concerned: December is the warmest on record here in Central Texas. And not just here, everywhere. But the lemon tree is right on schedule. It blooms in  mid-winter and bears in early spring. Anticipating lemons--and already scheming to use them.

Homestead report. The weather has been so screwy that the fall potatoes are still growing. They're covered now for the cold week ahead. The spinach I planted last Sunday is up already. I've mulched it--it'll enjoy the colder weather. We have way too many perennial onions. These are non-bulb onions that I use like green onions, tops and all. The rest of the beds are filled with thriving henbit, a "weed" that the chickens adore.

Speaking of chickens: the Barred Rocks that were chicks last July are now laying an egg a day--baby eggs still, but beautiful and tasty. Now that they know where their nest box is and how to use it, they get to go out every afternoon. Lovely to have as many fresh eggs as we can use. Molly Maguire (our heeler) enjoys them too.

Book report. OMG, so much going on! I finished The Last Chance Olive Ranch (China Bayles #25)  but will revisit it in March before the due date (3/31). Loving Eleanor has garnered a coveted starred review from Kirkus and is earning praise from NetGalley reviewers--it'll be out on February 1. And yes, you can have a signed copy. The film project for A Wilder Rose is moving ahead. My current work-in-progress is another biographical/historical. I'm several chapters into it and still doing research. (Actually, for me, research continues throughout the writing process, since I love to keep tucking details into the text.) More about that when I'm further along in the process.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday celebration. I put up my mother's little Christmas tree, artificial but covered with her prized little ornaments, so it's special for me. There were just the two of us, so we had Cornish hens with rosemary stuffing and Bill's favorite lemon pie. My gift from Bill: an annual subscription to the online Oxford English Dictionary (yay!). Bill's gift from me: a new camera. (He took the lemon blossom photo.) We are NOT planning to overdo it on New Year's Eve, just a little fun food, a good film (not sure what's in the queue), and a glass or two of bubbly as we celebrate the year past--all those words--and imagine the year ahead: new words, a new voice. Stay safe, whatever you do....

Reading Note: For last year's words belong to last year's language/And next year's words await another voice./And to make an end is to make a beginning.--T.S. Eliot

 

 

Deerly Beloved

It's deer season here in Texas. We  haven't seen any guys with guns this year (yet), but we have seen several nice bucks, including this splendid twelve-point whitetail buck we photographed from our front porch. This is the time of year when a buck has s-e-x on his mind and the does are either receptive or resigned, so we've been seeing plenty of deer hanky-panky. Molly Maguire (our Australian cattle dog) thinks it's her job to do the play-by-play, so there's plenty of excited barking, too. The veggie garden is fenced and there's enough open land around us that the deer aren't a problem, and we love to watch them. We saw a bobcat a couple of weeks ago, a rare sighting, only the second one we've seen in the nearly thirty years we've lived here.

Garden report. There's not much going on in the garden except for this spectacular kale, a hold-over from the spring garden. It's tasty, sauteed with a bit of onion and sausage. We may have fall potatoes if the hard freezes hold off for a couple of weeks. I planted them in August, using seed potatoes from the spring crop. This would be first time I've raised my own seed potatoes, a landmark achievement that's only possible in an El Nino year, I suspect. And it's a record El Nino: October was one of the warmest and wettest ever recorded here in Central Texas. Our lake is full and Pecan Creek is running for the first time in nearly four years: a lovely hiatus from the drought.

Book report. I'm delighted to let you know that Loving Eleanor--my novel about the friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok--has earned a starred review from Kirkus, another landmark achievement. The story of the intensely loving friendship of these two women (one of them the "First Lady of the World," as Harry Truman called ER) is a risky story, and untold. It's appearing February 1--but if you're a NetGalley reviewer you can read it now. I'm publishing it under my own imprint (Persevero Press), as I originally published A Wilder Rose. 

Speaking of which, I've signed the film option deal for Rose, for a possible cable network mini-series. This is a "live" project (meaning that it's not sitting on the producer's shelf, waiting for studio interest), and when it moves to the script stage, I'll share details. It's been fun and interesting to watch this process going forward--a whole new adventure for me.

Bill and I have also signed the contract for the UK publication of the Robin Paige Victorian/Edwardian mysteries, in print, ebook, and audio. It will be nice to have those books available for our friends who shop in British bookstores.

Works in progress. On the writing desk right now and nearly finished: the 2017 China Bayles mystery (The Last Chance Olive Ranch), for my Berkley/Penguin publisher. In research: another biographical/historical fiction, this one set during WW2. It's also a great story--can't wait to get started on the writing (as soon as Olive Ranch is finished). I'm planning to publish it via Persevero Press, as well. These days, I'm impatient with the long, slow process of traditional publication. I'm hoping to see it in print by Fall, 2017. 

Reading note. There are books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story . . . don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don't be like the play-it-safers who won't do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.--Stephen King

 

 

 

Rain! and Other Important Things

Hurricane Patricia caused all sorts of problems in Mexico and East Texas, but in our part of the Texas Hill Country, she gave us just what we needed: rain. Five-plus beautiful inches of gentle, persistent rain. The soil was so dry that there has been very little runoff, which means that the plants and trees will be able to soak up the moisture. It's also a gift to the spring wildflowers, which need autumn rains to begin their life cycle, from seed to blossom to seed. Today: gray skies, an autumnal drop in temperature, and a brisk breeze out of the north. A good day to stay indoors and write, read, and put in some time with the current needlepoint. The top border is complete--I'll repeat that on the other three sides and be finished. I'm not sure what the next needlepoint project is. Still thinking...

Book report. I decided to get an early start on the 2017 China Bayles mystery (The Last Chance Olive Ranch). The book isn't due until next March, but Loving Eleanor (the story of Eleanor Roosevelt's friendship with Lorena Hickok) comes out in February and I'll be busy with that. So I'm aiming to finish Olive before the holidays.

But Eleanor is already far along her path to publication. The advance reading copies (ARCs) arrived last week and I've started mailing them out to long-lead review venues and important indie booksellers. As soon as the eBook file is formatted, it will go to NetGalley, where review copies will be widely available to librarians, bloggers, other reviewers.

Somehow, I feel more connected to, more a part of, books I've published myself. The words are mine, the pages and cover and the work of getting the book out into the world--all of it, from start to finish, belongs to me.

Yet while I do the work, I wonder: will it be read and understood for what it is? Or will a reader's biases and prejudices keep her from understanding the story? The mysteries are easy to read, comfortable and predictable, and most readers claim to enjoy them. Why not? They're entertaining, and there's nothing there to object to--beyond a few dead bodies, of course.

The biographical fiction I'm writing now, novels like Rose and Eleanor, is much more risky. These are books about real women, leading real, not fictional lives--lives that are very different from what we have understood them to be.

Maybe I should put a note on the front cover. Warning: This book may be perilous to your long-held views of this woman. She is other than what you imagined.

Reading note. You write a book and it’s like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. You don’t know if it will ever reach any shores. And there, you see, sometimes it falls in the hands of the right person. --Isabelle Allende

A Welcome Sign of Autumn

 

Goldenrod--a welcome sign of autumn. A cold (well, cool) front yesterday, another one coming. The goldenrod is ready, and so am I. The last of the golden summer sunflowers are joined by the early autumn goldenrod. The genus name of this remarkable plant, Solidago, means “to make whole”; it has been used as a healing herb since ancient times. The goldenrod market perked up when Solidago was discovered growing in great plenty in the American colonies. The colonists cut and dried the plant, baled it, and shipped it to England, where it was sold in the apothecary shops. Traveling all those miles, it was pricey: Two ounces of goldenrod might fetch a gold crown.

For Native Americans, goldenrod was free. It was a staple medicine, and since some two dozen species grow across the continent, nearly every tribe was within arm’s reach of at least one. Called “sun medicine,” it was used to treat everything from wounds and fevers to rheumatism and toothache. It was also used as a charm, smoked like tobacco, woven into baskets, burned as an incense, and made into a dye. And if that’s not enough to demonstrate the significance of this golden plant, consider this: Learning that goldenrod sap contained a natural latex, Thomas Edison, that relentless inventor, bred the plant to increase its latex yield. He then produced a resilient, long-lasting rubber that Henry Ford made into a set of tires for his own personal automobile. Edison was still experimenting with his rubber when he died in 1931. His research was turned over to the U.S. government, which apparently found it of little importance, even when rubber became almost impossible to get during World War II. Goldenrod rubber. Fancy that.

I think of Edison and Ford and those goldenrod tires every time I see this plant. 

Oh, and one more thing: goldenrod does not make you sneeze. Unfortunately, it's often confused with ragweed. Don't believe me? Read about it from the University of Minnesota.

Book report. The latest (and maybe the last) Darling Dahlias mystery, The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady (#6) is out. Happy to report that it earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The last? Well, maybe. My editor would like me to continue with that series, but I have other projects in mind--other than mysteries, that is. I'm currently working on #25 in the China Bayles series, The Last Chance Olive Ranch. The biggest challenge: keeping the work fresh and lively, not just for readers but for myself.

Maybe that's why I'm enjoying the challenge of publishing my own work. Loving Eleanor (the story of the intimate friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok) is back from the copy editor and I worked on the cleanup of that manuscript last week. I'm thinking ahead to next month, when the ARCs are ready to go and the pre-launch publicity work kicks in. Daunting, scary, difficult--but exciting. Publishing A Wilder Rose taught me much, and I'm sure that Loving Eleanor will be a huge learning experience, too. 

Which brings me to this: if you are a book blogger and would like a review copy of Loving Eleanor, let me know. It will be available both in print (for selected bloggers) and Netgalley. Email me at susanalbert01 at gmail dot com, with a link to your book blog. Books now have a much longer shelf life than they did back in the day when they were available only through brick-and-mortar bookstores and garage sales, and I'd love to see this one reviewed and read as widely as possible. It's an important story about women's friendship.

Reading note: The shelf life of a modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yogurt.--Calvin Trillen

 

Being Astonished

A sure sign of fall here in the Hill Country: the eryngo (Erygium leavenworthii) is in bloom across the meadows and pastures. This stiff, sturdy plant looks like a thistle--feels thistly, too, if you are so foolish as to take hold of that spiky flowerhead. But it belongs to the parsley family. One of its Eastern relatives, Eryngium aquaticum, is called rattlesnake master, for its long use by Native Americans as a remedy for snakebite.

Doesn't feel much like fall, though. The afternoon temperatures are nudging 100 and rarely fall below 70 at night. So while I'm heartened by the eryngo's message, I'm not putting a lot of stock in it.

Book report. Busy days, with two books on the writing desk, in various stages of completion. I decided to get an early start on The Last Chance Olive Ranch (China Bayles #25, due in March 2016) because my second author-published novel, Loving Eleanor, is coming out in February 2016, and that will be distracting. Better to get China's mystery finished early, if I can. Learning lots about the Texas olive industry and olives in general, and making good progress: working on Chapter 5 this week. 

I'm also working on Loving Eleanor. which should come back from the copy editor today. I've been compiling a Pinterest board for that book. As I work through the copyedited manuscript (the story of the 30-year intimate friendship of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt), I'll be reorganizing the board materials into chapter-related segments, aiming to illustrate each chapter of the book via photos/clips on Pinterest. I'm also beginning to compile lists of potential reviewers: if you're a book blogger and might be interested in reviewing the book, let me know (susanalbert01 at gmail dot com). The website is currently under construction: you can see a draft here.

Story Circle Network report. For its upcoming 20th anniversary, I agreed to return to the presidency of this unique international women's writing community, the nonprofit organization I founded in 1997. One of my favorite SCN activities: StoryCircleBookReviews. We feature books by/for/about women, mostly indie publishers and self-publishing authors. Our review team is quite remarkable. If you'd like to join us as a reviewer (published reviews are a good addition to your writing portfolio), click on the link on the top of the page for information, or email me.

There's a long Labor Day weekend coming up. I hope you're planning something you really want to do. I am: writing, reading, and being astonished by this wonderful world...

Reading note:

Let me
    keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
    astonished.

--from "Messenger," by Mary Oliver

 

Works in progress

Some people like to finish things--but that's not me. When I complete one thing, I'm happiest when I can turn to something else, another work-in-progress. I like incompletes, overlappings: one project just getting started, another one halfway finished (like this needlepoint), a third reaching the end--although where books are concerned, the end doesn't happen when I put the period to the last sentence. There's the copyedited manuscript to work with, the first pass pages, then the hoopla that comes with publication. And even that isn't the end, because the book changes hands: it takes on a new life on readers' shelves and in readers' minds and hearts, a kind of transmutation. I like that. I like the idea that the book isn't mine any longer, it's yours, it's theirs, it belongs to everybody who opens it and starts to read. I love it when somebody writes to tell me that she is enjoying a book I "finished" 25 years ago. Overlappings, incompletes, words on the wind, works in progress.

On the writing desk, several incompletes. I've set the 1950s memoir aside for a couple of months while I work on The Last Chance Olive Ranch, China's 25th mystery. It isn't due on my editor's desk until March 2016, but I thought it would be better to work on it now, since Loving Eleanor (currently with the copy editor) is scheduled for February. (The link gives you a preview peek at the website, which is another work-in-progress.) Meanwhile, The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady ("finished" a year ago) will be published Sept 1, and that book can start its own new life with readers. Publishers Weekly liked it: gave it a starred review!

In the garden, betwixt & between. The spring garden is finished and the beds are cleared off and waiting for the fall planting (beans, potatoes, spinach, chard) but we've had NO rain for 6 weeks and the soil is too hot. I've got some seeds started already--if the promised El Nino amounts to anything, the first frost may be delayed long enough to get some nice fall tomatoes & peppers.

From Story Circle. This year, I'm president of Story Circle, a unique community of women writers. We're looking for creative presentations for our eighth biannual writing conference, in April 2016. If you're a writer, memoirist, novelist, poet, writing teacher, or writing coach and have ideas to share, please consider making a proposal. And help us get the word out by sharing our RFP with your friends. Thank you!

Reading note. The fairies, as their custom, clapped their hands with delight over their cleverness, and they were so madly in love with the little house that they could not bear to think they had finished it.--J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens 

In bloom this week: Guild Iris

Passalong plant. Decades ago, Bill's friend Jimmy Craig rescued a spadeful of these early white iris from the Campus Guild on Whitis, in Austin, where Bill and Jimmy lived while they were undergrads. The iris made three moves with Jimmy, and two moves with us. They've survived the drought without extra water and with very little care, which makes them a winner in my book--that, and their pristine purity, the whitest of white irises.And the earliest. Their blooms are always a welcome promise of spring.

Garden report. This spring's garden is shaping up to be the best in a long while, largely the luck of the weather. The potatoes (Yukon Gold, Reddale) look lovely, the peas are up, the Kentucky Wonder beans are up and their trellis is waiting, and we're eating fresh spinach and kale. The tomatoes have come out from under the lights and will be going into the ground soon. I need to get the eggplants started, and it will soon be time to plant okra. Oh, and the sweet potato starts are flourishing on the kitchen window sill, for planting in mid-May. Busy season!

Book report. I'm just finishing the last chapter of Blood Orange, China's 2016 mystery. By the time I finish a book, I'm never sure whether I like it or not. The problem: the book is never quite as good (in my view) as the idea I had when I started it. Maybe that's just because I've spent three months on the project and am eager to get on to something else, a natural feeling of anticlimax. That feeling always fades, though, and by the time the copyedit arrives on my desk, I'm liking it again.

The "something else" I need to start work on is the copyedited text of The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'clock Lady. This will be my last Dahlias for a while--I'm taking a sabbatical from the series, to do some different kinds of writing. Stay tuned for more later on that.

Also: I'll be giving away copies of the audio edition of A Wilder Rose, starting next Monday. I'll post a link here to that. You might also want to follow my blog at Goodreads, where I'm posting some thoughts about reading and writing. 

But most of all, right now, right here, I'm simply enjoying the renewal of another spring in the Texas Hill Country, and loving my place, my own home ground. 

Reading Note, For each home ground we need new maps, living maps, stories and poems, photographs and paintings, essays and songs. We need to know where we are, so that we may dwell in our place with a full heart.--Scott Russell Sanders 

 

NICE: Mexican Plum

The butterflies and bees love the flowering trees as much as I do--and need them more. This skipper is feeding on the nectar of the Mexican plum that grows at the western edge of our woodlot and is blooming this week.

In the afternoon, in full sun, this tree is a hive of winged energy, every blossom cluster hosting an insect or two or three. The tree was so thick with buzzing insects that the blossoms seemed to be alive. Lovely sight, delightful sound. This tree (Prunus mexicanus) is native to the Hill Country, and one of the small trees designated NICE (Natives Instead of Common Exotics). We count ourselves lucky to have two. When the purple fruits are ripe, they're covered with a gray wild yeast that can be used to make sourdough, so I've read. I'd have to hurry to gather them, though: they're loved by raccoons, possums, and birds. 

Garden report. We've had three stretches of two and three nights of hard freezes (unusual for late Feb/Mar). But our average last frost isn't until the end of the month, so anything can happen. I covered the potatoes & peas and uncovered again this morning: the potato tops look frosted, the peas, spinach, and kale are fine. It's warming up this weekend, so I'll put the cabbages (started under lights) in the ground today or tomorrow. Time to clean out the chicken coop and mix the manure with the compost for an energy boost for the late-spring plants.

Book report. It's also time to stop foolin' around and get serious about finishing Blood Orange (China #24, April 2016). I know who did it, how, and why, but China doesn't know that yet. She has 10,000 words in which to find out. The deadline is the end of the month. I think I'll make it.

Bittersweet will be out next month. If you haven't entered the Goodreads giveaway (3 autographed ARCs), please do. Publishers Weekly included the book in its top mystery picks for spring 2015, it's a featured alternate in the Mystery Guild, and Booklist gave it a starred review: "Albert pulls in disturbing and timely topics—drones and deer breeding—for an engrossing and twisted tale." Be prepared for something different.

Books I'm reading. I've found a new author--new to me, maybe an old friend for you. Her name is Jane Smiley, and I'm currently reading A Thousand Acres. Next on my list is the first book in her trilogy, Some Luck. I admire her skill in characterization and the depth of her knowledge of farm country and farm people. Surprising, for a city girl. I'm also waiting for the release, next week, of Dead Wake, by Erik Larson, one of my all-time favorite authors and the very best storyteller I know.

But mostly, I'm waiting for spring. Bet you are, too.

Reading note: In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.--Margaret Atwood