Dear Friends and Readers,
Well, Francine threatened to blow the Gulf Coast away, but we managed to dodge the worst of it, even New Orleans is okay. Some of the good news is that I had hurricane guests—Barbara Nye and Cheryl Gee. Barbara lives in New Orleans and Cheryl, who is our beloved Kiwi, was visiting Barbara when the storm turned East and targeted NOLA.
The only thing to do was buy more wine and have my friends over to stay. Barbara has a little dog named Rosceaux—who is almost as naughty as Harold’s Roscoe!
I met Cheryl and Barbara when I was hosting a writing/reading event called Daddy’s Girl Weekend. The last conference was 10 years ago. We had a pirate themed scavenger hunt through downtown Mobile. Cheryl’s team won the hunt, finding more of the local historical sites than anyone else.
It was so wonderful to see my friends who I haven’t seen for a decade, and it was equally wonderful that there was no damage to my area and no serious damage to NOLA. While Cheryl was visiting, I tried to do some fun things (I used to be a lot of fun but now I am a medic/janitor to far too many animals). We did go downtown to scope out Art Walk. I got a great photo of us at a local Mobile point of interest. And I did capture the hummingbirds Cheryl loved so much.
Sadly, Cheryl has gone to Houston to visit Michelle and Petra! I know they are having a blast before Cheryl heads home to the land of hobbits and such extreme beauty.
In book news, I finished the first draft of DOGGONE BONES. My agent had a few suggestions that I’m implementing before I give it to my editor. Whew! And I have figured out a plot for the next book, which I want to call DALLAS BONES (a take-off on the beloved TV series). I have to see what my editor thinks about this idea before I commit to it!
Here’s what on the docket for me next month.
I hope you’ll tune in to this free online event on October 9th: Click me to register for free
October 9: I will be participating in a virtual event with Paula Munier, a terrific mystery writer who also loves dogs. We each have a new release in October. Paula is a lot of fun so plan to tune in: Click this to register: Paula Munier with Carolyn Haines Zoom Event
October 17: I’ll also be in Columbus, MS for a fun signing at Friendly City books. This should be a hopping event and I’ll also get to see my best pal Hope Oakes and her husband Ed.
October 26: THEN, I’ll have a whoop-dee-do signing at The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile. It’s going to be fun with a big emphasis on Elvis at all events. My book is set during an Elvis impersonator competition in Tupelo, MS. My festival and setting are all fictional, though Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis. I hope people find this book to be fun and a tribute to Elvis!
Today, all of the critters are doing good. They got extra loving from Cheryl, and they were really eating that up. I’ve been working on edits and so forth so the critters really miss Cheryl being here to love on them. My Scooter is 20—I know heartbreak is around the corner. Right now Castor (my diabetic and ISBD 15-year-old cat) is stealing Scooter’s food (see video). Castor and Izzy (both diabetic) are doing okay. The other critters are okay—but age is creeping up on all of us way too fast.
That’s all the news from the farm this month. I need to mow, weed, weed eat, trim, etc., but I just don’t have the juice I used to have. This aging thing is complicated. It certainly isn’t what I anticipated! But I am still upright, and that’s what I’ll focus on. I have so many books I want to write!
Take care, and here’s a tune for September. It’s an old standard that my mother used to sing to me: The Autumn Leaves. Nat King Cole—what a voice.
Until October!
Carolyn and the Critters!
