I was at an open mic in Purcellville when the past caught up with me.  Someone mentioned I was a local author besides being a musician, and I said the name of my book.  They looked at me kinda funny-like, then said, “Valley ordered a few copies of it!” When I was substitute teaching a year ago, I had left a copy for review at Loudoun Valley High School and then forgotten about it.  But apparently the librarians liked it and ordered a few more copies.  Exciting!

I haven’t done much fiction or poetry writing lately–or even songwriting since last summer.  At least, I haven’t finished anything.

But I still write for the Purcellville Gazette, which has kept up the discipline of looking for details and stories–we’ve even added a monthly Poetry Page.   It’s been more a time of experience and networking and performing than of actively creating.  But I’ve been learning a lot of songs on the guitar, learning the banjo, and playing at the Purcellville Farmer’s Market and open mics in the area, from Leesburg to Purcellville to Shepherdstown.

Along the way, I’ve met some great people and experienced some new things.  I survived my way down my first Appalachian ski slope–when I say that I’ve skied before, I meant in Iowa.  I’ve been on my first foxhunts (I’m really good at riding the F-150) and visited my first Middleburg horseraces.

I learned to dream big and learned a lot in the process, but ordering 1,000 books might have been ambitious.  I’ve got a couple boxes to haul around, but they always make good gifts, and occasionally I run into someone who gets super-interested and wants a few copies–including one of the bartenders at one of the local hang-outs.

In other news, I’ve been working on another project that should be coming out in the next month or so.

I’ll give you a photo as a hint. Stay tuned.