As my literary hero Pat Conroy used to say,  Hey Out There.

I hope your summer is going well. I’ve been AWOL from the blog for the past couple of months because there are big things afoot here. First, my new novel, Mrs Lee and Mrs Gray released in mid June to very good reviews, and I’ve been  busy writing several articles about various aspects of the story and giving interviews. I love to talk about historical fiction but the interviews take time and my blog posts kept getting moved further down the list.

Secondly here at the Money Pit, we’ve have several big projects going on and there has been a constant parade of plumbers, tile setters, landscapers, and painters coming and going for weeks now. I keep telling myself the inconvenience and expense will be worth it.

Last week our golden retriever Jake fell ill, just a few weeks after his 9th birthday and off to the vet we went. A flurry of blood tests, organ function tests, and several sets of x rays failed to pinpoint the problem. He was very dehydrated from constant nausea and they kept him overnight to give him fluids. He came home and got sick again so back we went for a sonogram. We still don’t have a definitive diagnosis but so far he’s doing well on a new medication and a low fat diet.

Books read: Too few! But I enjoyed a couple of light beach reads including Shelley Noble’s Forever Beach, and Mary McNear’s The Space Between Sisters and Dorothea Benton Frank’s lighthearted romp, All Summer Long. It wouldn’t be summer without a new DBF novel, all of which are set in my beloved Charleston and her sea islands. I’m reading David McCullough’s Greater Journey about Americans in Paris during the 19th century. He’s my favorite historian. He says he writes for the ear as well as the eye and really so many of his sentences just sing. Reading his work is such a pleasure.

At the end of July we went to East Texas to spend a long weekend with Mom as she celebrated her 85th birthday. She’s having a hard recovery after a fall last September that fractured her hip. She’s our family’s treasure.

Happy August everyone.

Even after publishing twenty books, I still love the anticipation and excitement of launching a new title. During May I spent most of my “office time” preparing for the June 14  launch of  Mrs Lee and Mrs. Gray. I’m  thrilled to have received great reviews from the major journals including Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times Reviews, and a starred review from the American Library Association’s  Booklist.

Here’s the cool badge they sent.

I’ve loved writing all of my books for different reasons, but writing the story of Mary Custis Lee and Selina Norris Gray has given me the deepest pleasure of all. I hope readers will sense my passion for the true story of  these two courageous women and for the friendship they shared. To help publicize the book  I’ve been writing a few articles and giving interviews which is great fun as I love the chance to share this story with readers who may not know that Mary was an accomplished painter and editor, for instance, or that Selina took care of Arlington, Mary’s home, during the Civil War, and stopped looters from taking away all of President Washington’s belongings.

Outside of “office time” Ron and I explored a couple of new restaurants. The Bread Box is a tiny place inside Artisan’s Alley, one of the coolest collections of antique stores, pottery shops, and galleries in the city. They have a beautiful shaded outdoor area perfect for a long lunch. The food is fabulous. We ended up buying cupcakes and Napoleons to bring home. We went to Sewasdee, a Thai restaurant not far from our house where I tried something new–a pumpkin curry. The best curry I’ve ever had, with just the right balance of sweet and spicy.

Our outdoor plans for the month have been thwarted by rain so I had a chance to catch up on reading.  Coming up: We’re collectors of old maps and can’t wait see an exhibit of antique maps at the Witte Museum, including a map made by the father of Texas, Stephen F Austin. And now that June is here, the outdoors beckons. We’re planning a couple of short trips to the Highland Lakes region of Texas, and a trip to Stonewall, the home of President Johnson, to buy some luscious Texas peaches. The growing conditions this year were excellent and we’re expecting an outstanding crop. Peach cobbler and peach ice cream are on the menu this month. I wish you all could join me for dessert and conversation on the patio.

Till next time, here’s wishing you a great launch for your summer plans.

The other day one of my dear reader friends on Facebook said she gets a kick out of my nickname for my house. It’s called the Money Pit, after that old eponymous movie about a guy who buys a house that is falling apart.  My husband and I bought this house on the spur of the moment when we moved here eight years ago. Our house out of state fell victim to the 2008 recession and sat on the market for nine months. When it finally sold, we had 30 days to make a cross country move and this house was the best we could do on short notice.

Since moving here, we have replaced the fencing, the carpets, the AC and heating system, the garbage disposal, several light fixtures, the water heater, the microwave, a set of French doors, and the kitchen faucet. Then last month the rains came and the sun room roof which we had just finished repairing leaked again. Happy to say it has since been repaired again, and in the last rain, the sun room stayed dry.  I’m hopeful we are finished with repairs for a while.

On the writing front, I’m gearing up for the June 14th release of my first biographical novel, Mrs Lee and Mrs Gray. Writing it required a different creative process and a host of decisions about what to put in and what to leave out. I’m sure there will be some critics who will question those choices, which were guided by my reasons for writing the book ( you can’t please everyone)  but the pre-publication reviews from the major review journals have been lovely and RT Reviews has chosen it as a Top Pick.  I’m looking forward to sharing the story of Mary and Selina with my readers.

I’ve been working on some new novels and planning a couple of short summer breaks to decompress. The weather here in my little corner of the world has been delightful so far and I’m taking advantage of it to spend time outside playing with Jake and catching up on my reading. I recently finished reading three contemporary novels, ( I know–shocking!)  Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld, Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova, and The One and Only by Emily Griffin. I enjoyed them very much indeed but now I am back to historical fiction, reading Ellen Marie Wiseman’s Coal River.

What have you been reading lately? Leave a comment and share your favorites.

An old love song by the Oak Ridge boys contains these lines: It takes a little rain to make love grow…where the sun always shines there’s a desert below…it takes a little rain to make love grow.

I think these lines apply to life as well as to love. March at my house had quite a bit of rain of both the literal and figurative kind. We had a leak in the roof of the sunroom that damaged a window casing, dirtied the floor, and ruined some of the pillows on the sofa I keep in there. It’s fixed now but supervising the repairs left me little time for reading this month.

It’s just as well, as I’ve been feeling unsettled these past weeks, waiting for news about a new book I’m working on, and making decisions about how to launch Mrs Lee and Mrs Gray which comes out in June. And I have been profoundly saddened by the death of one of my favorite writers, Pat Conroy. He was such an example to me of how to treat one’s fans and readers. He genuinely cared for them and they loved him for it. At his funeral last month the church overflowed with his family and friends and with people who knew him only through his work, and who wanted to say goodbye.

He was the quintessential son of the South, our own Prince of Tides.The world is a darker place without him in it.

Here’s to a happier April!