Good Luck!

Best laid plans…and all that. I’ve mentioned before that our daughter stays at our place when she comes to town to work (usually three nights in a row) as a traveling nurse. We love getting to see her. So much so, it’s eaten into some of my writing time. But she leaves for work at 2:15 in the afternoon, and I can still squeeze in a few hours on the days I’m naughty and yak instead of write. And after she leaves on the fourth day, I have her days off to write.

IF her car works. Last month, she couldn’t return home to Indy because it kept overheating. She couldn’t trust it for a two-and-a-half-hour drive, so she took it to a shop close to us and was stranded here. Definitely a few no-writing days. By the time she got it back, it was a work day again, so she never got to home. This last weekend, she’d packed her trunk full of clothes and presents to drive from our house to Detroit to see her BFF from childhood. BUT, the car broke down again. And this time, the fix wasn’t going to be cheap or quick. Repair shops are busier than ever. And since she drives all the time for her job, she decided to buy a new car that will be dependable.

BUT, it’s not easy to buy a good used car or a new car right now! The pandemic has made it so that she found three cars she wanted, called to put an offer on them, and they were all sold before she found them and made the call. This happened over and over again! The local news keeps saying the same thing about the housing market here. If a decent house is listed, it’s gone before the day’s out. Realtors keep warning people not to sell their houses unless they have somewhere else to go. According to the paper, it’s even hard to find a good place to rent.

That must be what it’s like to be a New York Times best-selling writer. You put your book up, and everyone starts buying it. How wonderful would that feel?! Anyway, I have a whole day tomorrow to write. Heaven. And then there’s Thanksgiving, and I’m having my sister and cousin over for steaks and French fries, since that’s their favorite. My daughter works, and my grandsons can’t make it home. So, Thanksgiving’s going to be small this year, and I think I’m ready for that. This has been such a weird year, why have a normal Thanksgiving? On Friday, my sister and HH and I are doing the local Christmas attractions–the Festival of Trees, the Gingerbread exhibit, and the Botanical Gardens, then we’re going to Coney Island. Untraditional. And it sounds great. Then…on the weekend, I can write until my fingers cramp. And I’M SO READY!

Whatever you’re doing for the holiday, I hope you have a great one! Enjoy. And happy writing and reading.