Selling houses

Those of you who have been following my posts might have figured that I like a good plan. I write lists, I create spreadsheets, I set up schedules, I use coloured markers to note deadlines on a wall calendar.

And then I forget it all to read a book, or write one that is burning a hole in my imagination, or go out to coffee with my best beloved. Or, as in the past four weeks, spend hours digging boxes out of wardrobes and from under beds, and going through them to see what we need to burn, dump, sell, give away or send to storage before we put the house on the market.

What are your worst moving house nightmares? Or experiences?

Decluttering is the pits, but it could be worse. For the past decade, I’ve practiced the forty bags for forty days Lenten discipline. The idea is that every day of Lent, you give away a box or a bag of stuff that you don’t really need.

I can’t believe that we still have so much, even after all that! I gave away boxes of towels and sheets and blankets, sent more boxes of craft stuff and material up to the local pre-school centre, disposed of a tottering pile of sewing magazines to the used bookstore, and presented my unwanted wool to a group who knit blankets for a charity in the Ukraine. Nearly finished. I have some old electronics, videos, and disks to sort through, and several more kitchen cupboards to clean and tidy, and we’re done.

So writing has taken a bit of hit. Not that I’ve stopped, but I’ve certainly slowed down. The planning isn’t wasted. All those schedules help me to know what to drop and what to squeeze and what to stay up all night to finish.

And top of my list for August was Abbie’s Wish, my contribution to the Authors of Main Street box set, which made its way to our wonderful Marjorie at Indie Artist Press at the beginning of this month. After I completed Paradise Regained for the Bluestocking Belles’ Christmas set, Abbie’s Wish was on top of my list, nudging out my novel, Unkept Promises.

Let me show you the cover!

Three men. One’s a monster. Can Claudia figure out who before it’s too late?

After too many horrifying experiences, Claudia Westerson has given up on men. She’s done everything possible to exorcise the men in her life, short of changing her name and appearance. They’re unpredictable, controlling and, worst of all, dangerous. Besides, all her energies are devoted to therapy for her daughter, Abbie, who is recovering from a brain injury.

But after Abbie is photographed making a wish for Christmas, Claudia begins receiving anonymous threats, proving her quiet refuge is not nearly hidden enough.

Who can she trust? Three men hope to make her theirs:

Jack, the driver from her daughter’s accident
Ethan, her daughter’s biological father
Rhys, a local school teacher and widower.

They all sound sincere, but which one isn’t?

But wait. There’s more

Remember I mentioned the Bluestocking Belles’ box set above? And Lizzi Tremayne talked about it in her post last week. She was a couple of days too early to talk about the cover and the title, which we revealed on Sunday, so here’s some more about Follow Your Star Home.

Paradise Regained, my story, tells of a couple who have drifted apart in their marriage. It is set in Central Asia, in 1794. Here is my blurb.

James yearns to end a long journey in the arms of his loving family. But his father’s agents offer the exiled prodigal forgiveness and a place in English Society — if he abandons his foreign-born wife and children.

With her husband away, Mahzad faces revolt, invasion and betrayal in the mountain kingdom they built together. A queen without her king, she will not allow their dream and their family to be destroyed.