It’s been a wild Wednesday.
Things got off to a rocky start this morning when I backed out of my garage. There was much loud swearing, and I really don’t want to talk about it, except to say that as a result of getting off to a rocky start, I was unable to resist trying one of the donuts that greeted me as soon as I walked in the door at work. I was also unable to resist one of the gourmet cookies that arrived this afternoon. And I was unable to resist Godfather’s Pizza come suppertime.
The sky swore today.
I happened to look out the window by my desk about 4:00 p.m. and I couldn’t believe what I saw. It looked like January outside, except for the part where the grass was still green. They said I could leave early if I wanted, but I wasn’t worried about the roads, even though everyone forgets how to drive in snow between May and November. I just took it easy, only getting mildly annoyed when the person behind me with the super-bright dims seemed to ride my bumper for ten miles before finally going around me. But I made it home safe and sound, and my kids made it home safe and sound, so it could have been a whole lot worse.
Besides, I got a book today.
Everyone knows that books make everything better, and this book in particular is very exciting. I’d actually completely forgotten it was coming. About a month ago, A.F.E. Smith posted on her Facebook page that she’d run across a box of proof copies of her third novel, Windsinger, and asked if anyone would want one. Naturally, I said yes! And when I finally made it home tonight, a pretty, pretty signed copy was sitting in my mailbox, just waiting to be read. (You can check out my review of Windsinger here, and my reviews of Darkhaven and Goldenfire here and here.)
I’ve been struggling a bit with reading lately, so it was a wonderful reminder that there are loads of great things out there to read (as if I really needed a reminder of that). I seem to read in fits and starts these days – when I’m reading, it’s all I can do, and writing is the same. Maybe it’s just that I feel so pressed for time, like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. Maybe it’s some weird manifestation of something I’m not entirely certain of. I don’t know.
There’s an awful lot I don’t seem to know these days.
But maybe things will look brighter in the morning.
(c) 2019. All rights reserved.
If you haven’t read 
“She hesitated, her skin crawling with tiny spiders of unease.” -If that’s not evocative, I don’t know what is!
‘You can’t do that to him,’ she said for the tenth time in as many days. ‘He is your true heir, your pure-blood son. I’m only half a Nightshade.’
Darkhaven is set in a capital city, Arkannen, into which people from many different countries have migrated over the years. Most people’s heritage is a mixture of cultures/influences; they tend to think of themselves as Arkannenites before anything else (much as Londoners are Londoners before they are British). So although Mirrorvale and its surrounding countries don’t have exact real-world analogues, I’ve chosen actors who have quite a diverse 
A.F.E: I’m a professional editor, a whenever-I-can writer and a mother of two young children. I’m also an occasional robin.
A.F.E.: The short answer: shapeshifters and murder.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 