An Abject Apology to my Readers

I have been busy with stuff outside of writing.

I love harps, and harpists, and have played and supported harpists for many years. By ‘supporting harpists’ I mean that I helped to set up and run the Jerusalem Harp Circle in Israel. I studied the harp for a few years (just long enough to learn that I will never, ever, find work as a concert harpist or even a very poor performance player.

But I do love harps, and harp music. And right now I do not own a harp. While I was caring for my mother in her last few years of life I found myself unable to work; I was spending much of my time caring for her and driving her to clinics and hospitals and no employer can put up with much of that, no matter how good an employee you might be. So one month the mortgage came due and with nothing in the bank to cover the bills and I was forced to sell my harp for far less than it was worth to cover the debts.

That was back in 2008. Now I have a 2-car garage and am slowly building workbenches and moving equipment in to build harps. In my spare time, of course.

I am a writer, for better or worse. But I spent much of my life as a woodworker, restorer and finisher. Should you be curious about this, please visit the Photo Gallery at my web site for samples of the kind of work I have done. I hope soon to post some photos of my new workshop.

“Lonesome Cove” is back in the works, though it won’t be in final manuscript form until early next year. But I can tell you that I am very excited about what is happening in the story.

“Twisted Key” is due for release at the end of September. I’ve gotten queries from bookstores asking when they can expect to receive copies, and I am telling them that will be some time in early October. I hopehopehope to finagle an earlier release date, but that really isn’t up to me at this point.

Unfortunately, I will be at the Florida Heritage Book Festival in St. Augustine on the 24th of September, probably with copies of “Twisted Key” to sell. That is a very depressing thought, indeed.

On the plus side of the ledger, however, is that all of the events I have scheduled during October should see me with plenty of copies of “The Big Bend”, “Hog Valley” and “Twisted Key”.  At these appearances I will be selling a ‘Gift Set’ of all three copies for a reduced price ( to be announced later).

Again, please accept my apologies for not writing sooner.