That’s the cover on the right for Throwaway Jane, the first Karen Pantelli novel. The book is entering the production stage (copy edits, final proofreading, etc) and should be out in the world by mid-May.
I’ll have a book description soon, but for now I’ll just say that those of you who’ve read my Garrison Gage series may remember Karen as the FBI agent introduced in A Desperate Place for Dying and (after a tragic mistake compells her to leave the Bureau and become something of an aimless drifter) plays a more central role in The Lovely Wicked Rain. What happened to her the last couple years? What has she been up to? I wrote a book to find out, and I enjoyed it so much it’s a good bet I’ll be writing many more, assuming readers like her as much as I do. More detail soon.
Other updates? I’m about halfway done with next Garrison Gage book — who, by the way, has a cameo in Throwaway Jane. It’s relatively brief, but it definitely contains a few tantalizing hints of some changes in Gage’s life, changes that will definitely come to bear in his next adventure. More than that I can’t say, except I’m really putting him through the ringer this time, poor guy.
Nearly six months in to working as a full-time writer, I can’t decide if I’m working all the time or hardly working. Benefit of loving what you do, I guess. Even when it’s hard, it seldom seems like work. That’s not to say it’s always easy. I’ve had good days and bad days, productive days and not so productive days, especially considering the anxiety-inducing state of the world at the moment. Yet even on the toughest writing days, I still feel like I’m following my bliss, to paraphrase Joseph Campbell. That’s all I think you can ask for on a personal level as a human being, to engage in work, hobbies, pastimes, whatever the case may be for each person, that provide you a gateway to a deeply meaningful life.
But the family’s healthy, which is the important thing, and life goes on as it must. With two teenagers in the house nearly all the time (like most of the world, their schools are now online), I guess it’s a miracle I’m sane at all, but we’ve actually had a lot of great conversations and lots of laughter, too. House and yard projects. Teaching my daughter to drive. Some drawing here and there, when I’m not writing. Binge-watching fun escapist television with my wife to forget about the world for a while (Hart of Dixie, I’m looking at you). Mostly, I stay busy. It’s spring here in the Willamette Valley, lush and beautiful and what I always consider a reward for our long, gray, drizzly winters (which I actually don’t mind all that much — they drive out the Californians who dabble with retiring here).
The flowering plum trees outside my office are in full bloom, and on windy days their petals cover the sidewalks like pink snow. It’s a reminder to appreciate beauty wherever you find it.