Happy 2025 (I’m Back!)

Life happens when you’re busy making other plans.

At least that’s what Allen Saunders said. (*)

And right now, I’m feeling it. Once again, our holiday was touched by Covid. For those keeping count, this is 3 out of 4 holidays that were affected by the disease or exposure to it. This time we were only exposed, which meant my spouse had to postpone his trip to Kentucky to visit his family, which dominoed into his not being here on New Year’s Eve.

We still had our special New Year’s Eve dinner, but not until New Year’s Day.

The day my mother fell and broke her femur.

Ouch!

So already my 2025 has started off with more chaos and unexpected surprises than I had hoped for. On the plus side, my mother went through her surgery swimmingly. Our New Year’s Eve dinner was mediocre—but the company was lovely—and I am determined to get back to revising my novel.

This week I am doing research for it.

• What were the visa guidelines for Italy in 2021?

• Map out floor plans for 5 residences.

• Brainstorm list of women poets.

• Find an artist to create 22 borders for pdf.

• Collect images of flowers in bloom in Italy in April.

I’ve been wanting to immerse myself in this manuscript for months now and put it off for reasons that still make sense, unless I’m just rationalizing my choices. Which is possible.

I mean, who doesn’t want to spend 18 days in Italy in spring? Even if it is only vicariously?

Starting Monday, I’ll be revising and weaving in more sensory details. This isn’t the first manuscript I’ve finished and revised; this is the first I’ve finished, revised, and can honestly say I still love the main characters. All four of them are women I would want to know, would want to be friends with because I care about each of them. I can’t wait for you to meet them and read their stories.

Let me know! Do you have any recommendations for books and/or movies that take place in Italy?

* This quote is often misattributed to John Lennon. Google it if you don’t believe me.