Friday, May 27, 2016

Now For the Details

I am sorry about last weeks short blog. It with the fifth week in a row of us doing seminars. Not only that, but for the final two weeks, we did three in a week. Then I had a copy edit due last Friday for HOOKING FOR TROUBLE. I always test the recipes again, and no matter how I try to avoid it, I always end up baking at midnight. With all the seminars last week, the only time available for baking was Wednesday night.

The recipe calls for hunks of chocolate bars and someone in my family didn’t understand I had the dark chocolate bars for that reason and had eaten some of my stash. Luckily, I found some other back up chocolate and was able to make them.

And there was more. Two weeks ago, Linda Hopkins, my friend, and helper with the patterns in my books and so much more, was killed. She was hit by a car while jogging. The suddenness of it was such a shock, I simply couldn’t wrap my mind around it. She was absolutely the most thoughtful and generous person. She started out as a reader of my books and then joined the knit and crochet group I belong to. When I asked if she would look over the patterns for my books, she readily agreed and was an invaluable help. She had a great eye for detail and I have a terrible habit of being inconsistent. Last week as I was going through the copy edit, I was incorporating things from the notes Linda had sent me. It seemed incomprehensible to be reading what she’d written and to realize she was gone. The thing is, I know that she would not want people to be sad, but she certainly will be missed. The only positive is that I was able to add a dedication in her memory to the book.

So, by the end of last week, I was too worn out mentally and physically to even talk about what had happened.

This was supposed to be my week to catch up on things like laundry, cleaning house, going to the grocery store, etc. However, I ended up going with my son all week and helping with the appointments I had set up at the seminars. I’m not complaining. I like being out in the world. We had some fun exploring the area around one of our offices. I’d never seen the canals in Venice or even knew that there was a Venice pier (that’s the Venice in Southern California). It was a whole week of twelve hour days, dragging along my computer bag full of electronics, and notes for something new I’m working on. I took along a bag full of crochet stuff, too. Eating was sketchy. I carry along bags of nuts and trail mix. All our offices provide coffee. Dinner was whatever was in the refrigerator or freezer.

I sit in a cubicle in one of our locations, so I can hear others on their phones and they can hear me. It was after hours and I thought the place was empty. I was talking on the phone to my husband about the new thing I’m working on. Since it’s a mystery, I mentioned my lead character by her name and that she found a dead body stuffed in the doorway of a shop.

When I was off the phone and taking my empty coffee cup to the office kitchen, I saw a woman at the copy machine which is right behind our cubicle. I noticed her brow furrow a bit as she looked at me. I hope she realized I was talking about a book.

My son had a very successful week and now thinks I’m his lucky charm. I think that means no days off.

1 comment:

Linda O. Johnston said...

Wow, Betty. My condolences on the loss of your friend. I empathize with you for being busy, but you clearly have me beat. Hope you'll find a little time for yourself, at least to breathe!