May 11, 2018.  Greetings, friends!  It’s been almost two years since I wrote you. I can’t believe that it’s been that long and yet I can. The photo with the last blog proves it. It was taken in July of 2016. Let me tell you a little about what’s been going on in my life since then.

One month after returning from that conference, in August, my mother died unexpectedly. Bam. There you have it. The following six months are almost absent in my memory, as I was absent in life. I didn’t rouse myself until I began forced writing of two short stories in February 2017. That started me back out of the fog. Thank God for writing. Eventually, I found my way back to my novel and working out the glitches in it, preparing it for submission. The GCLS Con for 2017 was held in Chicago and it was a blast. If you ever get a chance to go meet over 300 lesbians who love lesbian fiction, do it. I went with a bestie from Iowa and made some memories that will last forever. I also made one special connection.

We returned from the con on Sunday, July 9th. On Thursday, July 13th, doctors accidentally found a brain aneurysm in my skull. On Saturday, July 15th, I submitted my manuscript to a publisher. You see, I was already scheduled for two knee replacement surgeries that fall, but now, brain surgery was on the horizon also. And a very close horizon it was. Long story short, in August I had one knee replacement, in November the other. On December 7, I signed a contract with Flashpoint Publications for Gum For Gracie. On December 15, I got engaged. Then, on January 22, 2018, I had brain surgery to clip the aneurysm.

I spent the next three and a half months recovering and then, whoops, today happened. You will be able to read more in a memoir I plan to write on this year, but the glorious conclusion is that my first novel, Gum for Gracie, will be released on July 1, 2018, and I will be signing it at the GCLS Convention in Las Vegas, July 4-8, 2018.

More on Gracie and the cover next week. And a new blog is coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled!