I hadn’t realized how long it’s been since I’ve sent a newsletter — six months. Wow! Sorry about that!

I’ve been busy living life and writing.

The short list: the book grew beyond a novella, the plot got extra twisty, I planted a big garden (by hand, no machines), started all the plants in February from seeds under grow lights, did many crochet projects (I really need to post pics, don’t I?), fostered Jack Russell Terriers through Russell Rescue Carolinas (a fabulous organization), helped to care for my elderly in-laws, church deacon chair duties, tried not to let our six-acre farm get totally out of control and look abandoned, and “graduated” from therapy in March.

Don’t worry, I now carve out time for rest during the week, and I no longer feel guilty about it. Yay me!  Plus, we spent a week at our family cabin in the NC mountains, and will be going back for another week soon. We have wildlife cameras, and discovered that while I was taking one of our Jacks to potty, there was a teenage bear a couple of feet away in the woods. Ellie knew, and in typical JRT fashion, wanted that bear desperately. She probably could’ve taken him. We have a bear family of four, a coyote family of five, a racoon family of four, turkeys, chipmunks, squirrels, deer, rabbits, etc. etc.  

Basically I’ve been just living life.

You’d think posting a newsletter would be quick. It might be for most folks, but for me, it takes most of a day. The composition, editing, posting on my blog, sending the newsletter on MailChimp, then posting on all of my social media sites. Time consuming.

To expand on a few of the above items, the book is a full length SPI Files. It still centers around Mac and Rake going back to Weird Sisters for an engagement party thrown by the town. After that, the simple plot started taking the usual twists, turns, and trips down multiple rabbit holes. In other words, the usual for my books. I think you’re gonna love it. I’ve determined that I’m incapable of writing simple plots. They’re boring to me. The new title is The Enigma Key, and I really want to have it out by next spring. I’m using The Solstice Countdown art for my newsletter banner until I can get the cover from my amazing artist Elizabeth Peiro. I’m about a month away from deciding the details of what I want, and sending it to her.  

I’m starting to work on my panels for MarsCon 2026. I’ve been invited to be the Author Guest of Honor, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! It’s in Virginia Beach, VA, January 16-18, 2026. If you can make it, I’d love to meet you! I have a few ideas for panel topics, but if there’s something you’d be interested in hearing about from me, drop me an email and let me know. I’ll be leaving plenty of time to chat with readers.

And speaking of emails I need from you, our fig trees are having a banner year. I can’t find the family recipe for fig preserves. If you have a good family recipe, I’d love it if you could send it to me. 

An update on audio books. I haven’t gotten back in the booth. I know, I’m a bad author. But now that I’ve got the book momentum going–and my entire garden died from heat and torrential rain (except the sunflowers, sunflowers can survive anything)–I now have a wee bit of time to carve out some recording sessions. Derek (the hubby) is doing the production. We’re about four chapters shy of finishing The Entity Game, and then we need to knock out The Gorgon Agenda. I really want to have Entity out by November, and Gorgon by the end of the year. Thank you for your continued patience!    

I think that’s it for now. Back to work.
L.     

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