Better Late Than Never

I usually put out four books a year but last year I did six. Part of that was because with the pandemic we weren’t doing any traveling, and part of it was because I wanted to get my new Tinder Street family saga off and running. I had hoped to maintain that schedule this year, too, but in order to have done that, I should have had my newest Tinder Street book, Boom And Bust, out in April.

I didn’t make that goal, but I did finish the book on Sunday. It came in at just a shade under 100,000 words, and I spent all day yesterday reading through the last few chapters and making corrections. One problem with a historical series that spans several generations is that it’s easy to get the character’s names confused. I’ve done plenty of that and spent a lot of time correcting those errors. When I was done making corrections, I printed the chapters out for Terry to proofread and edit before passing them on to my other two proofreaders. This book takes us from 1925, in the middle of the Roaring 20s, to the end of the decade, the Wall Street crash, and the beginning of the Great Depression. There is a lot going on for the McNally and Wirtz families, and I think you’re going to enjoy it. Hopefully, within a week or so, it will be out, and you can tell me if you did or didn’t.

Besides doing all that with the new book yesterday, I also went to our accountant to pick up our tax returns and get them mailed off. Donna, our accountant, is very good and works hard to find us every legal deduction. She’s been telling me for quite some time now that since we didn’t do much traveling in 2020, we were going to take a big hit on taxes, and we did. I remember years when we didn’t make as much as we had to pay in taxes this year. I guess that’s the price of success, isn’t it?

Yesterday afternoon I was standing outside talking to our neighbor Jesse Bolton from across the street when somebody from the city came around passing out door hangers telling people that there had been a break in a water pipe. Even though it had been repaired, we are under a boil water alert for the next day or two. No problem, we can do that, and we also keep several gallon jugs of water on hand for emergencies. That way, when there’s a hurricane or something predicted to be coming our way, we don’t have to rush to the grocery store and buy every jug of water in sight. I was a Boy Scout and I know how to be prepared.

While Terry is proofreading those last chapters today, I need to start working on my free author’s newsletter to be ready to send out as soon as the book is live. I told Terry that after the book is out, I may take a few days to just goof off. Then again, I may start on my next Big Lake book and see what I can get done before our kids arrive for their visit in about three weeks. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – I’ll never forget the look on the cashier’s face when she rang up the bag of birdseed and I asked her how long it takes for the birds to grow after I plant them.