Reflections.

 

What a year it has been!

I should say, the last 20 months have been… weird? Maybe not weird but certainly different.

Who could’ve foretold the changes we experienced? Covid-19. Isolation. Separation. Sick people everywhere – literally everywhere – all over the world.

One can only hope it is almost over, normalcy is just over the next hill. Is it possible?

 

Looking back at March 2020, I finished working on March 7^th. Along with Covid came retirement. Not all bad, at least for me.

Being home everyday had its good points. Lingering over coffee with my wife, Gloria, watching the sunrise. Usually experienced only on weekends but suddenly it was every day. Ok, another good thing.

Gas prices dropped to the lowest prices in memory. It was good, but people weren’t going anywhere.

Then the housing market boomed. Eager buyers, low interest rates (another plus), not enough houses for sales. We (Gloria & I) had discussed selling our home and moving to the city. We made a decision to sell in the new year – 2021. We have a lot of personal reasons for moving, for giving up our terrific view of Cocagne Bay, our comfy home. 

 

Gloria and I decided to take advantage of the market and listed our house on July, 2021. It sold at the end of September and now we have 9 more days to get out.

Are we happy? You bet! A new adventure.

Everything fell in place for us. We found a perfect new place to live. Now we are up to our ears in boxes, moving day is only 5 days away.

But it’s an emotional experience. What to keep, what to sell, what to donate to the Thrift shops? It is not easy to say goodbye to many of the things we’ve accumulated but it is getting done. Now they are only memories.

Memories. We have so many to take with us…. The grandkids growing up here in the country, sleeping over, going to the beach up the road, is likely the most significant.

 

And the best for me is so much time to write. A quiet writing spot. Since March 2020, I’ve completed and launched the third Drake Alexander novel. See Here

Autumn Paths. 

I have been fortunate to work with eight authors I respect. I'm proud and humbled to be included in this anthology. Nine authors, nine stories. One theme. 

See Here.

I have the first draft of the next Jo Naylor Adventure completed – Shattered Dreams. Jo Naylor is running from the law back in Canada. Her next adventure takes her to Paris, France where she’s always wanted to visit. But Jo being Jo, she can’t help but find trouble, nor can she neglect it. Remember – she was once a cop, a good cop. Maybe this time she has stuck her nose where it shouldn’t be? Maybe this time she finds love and understanding.

Hoping for publication early in the new year.

I have completed the third draft of my novella – Father. A story based on real events but told in a fictional account. In 1941, with the war raging in Europe, Tanner Hill is enjoying life. His extracurricular activities as a moonshiner will suddenly come to an end. He joins the army to avoid prison and serves three years in Sicily and Italy. When the war ends, he returns home. But nothing is the same. I hope to have this published in eBook format only by the end of the month.

I have completed the first draft of a new action novel with the working title of Scoudouc. It takes place during World War 2 at the Royal Air Force Station Scoudouc, New Brunswick. There are secrets at the station, secrets which can aid the allies in the war. A headless body is discovered on Air Force property and to keep everything hush-hush, the commander of the station calls in Warrant Officer Stefan Kravchenko – a former cop from Winnipeg. He has three days to solve the crime. It's not going to happen.

I have completed one half of The Alexanders Volume 2. 1921 – 1930. I hope to finish this coming winter for publication in 2022.

 

So not a bad twenty months. We've been lucky. It’s been good for me, good for us. I only wish the same for everyone when we look back at these weird times. 

How about you? How has the last twenty months affected you and your family?