My 92-year-old mom, the model for Julia, Bean's mom in the trilogy, fell down and broke her hip the day I returned from a few weeks in Nova Scotia, right after the release of that second book. Now, Julia isn't my mom and my mom certainly isn't Julia, but the complicated relationship and the older musician being the role model for the younger one wouldn't have existed without a very tough old bird named Gloria. See? Her name is even similar.
Mom needed hip surgery, got it, and had an awful time in the hospital, but survived, had an awful time in the rehab center, but got released and is home with her aids, walking a little, still healing up. She had an equal chance of making it and not making it, and so far, she has made it. Perhaps Mom's Amy Winehouse-like spirit about rehab ("No, no, no!") was what got her through. Maybe not. It didn't work so well for Amy. But Amy Winehouse wasn't nearly as tough as my mom.
So, I've been a daughter more than a writer lately, with weekly escapes to my happy place, the studio at Area 24 radio, where I spin records (largely the kind of stuff Bean would like) for a couple of hours. Bean 2, In Her Own Time has DJ's galore, by the way, and there's a Goodreads giveaway happening for the book right now. You can take a chance on getting it for free! Paperback! Autographed! You really ought to read it if you haven't. Sez me, anyway.
In fact, there's a cool campus radio station in Book 3, as yet unnamed. I started writing that book while I was in Nova Scotia. I'm finally back to drafting it now that my mom is stable. Three and a half chapters in, and it's going to be a wild ride. The year is now 1972...and Bean is in college. The research I'm doing for it is super fun, although I have given myself a really nasty Cat Stevens earworm. Click here if you dare.
I'm looking forward to getting another few thousand words drafted this week. That's because I'm going up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, just on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, to meet with some of my fellow Evernight authors, drink wine, write, and plan my next moves. I'm riding the train up and back and that is going to be super great, I think. Plus: fancy hotel. Coolness!
So I'm back in the ring, throwing punches. And tarot cards (lots of them in the new book). And emailing friends about was-it-really-like-that-in-1972-or-am-I-nuts?
Do have a look at Bean 2! I can think of no better escape from the hideous political season we are having in the States than the ability to time travel, and I am offering it to you, right here, right now!