March 2023
Remember all those faint praises for winter that I put in my last newsletter? They were lies!
To be clear, I wasn’t lying to you, I was lying to myself. Self-delusion for the purpose of self-preservation.
Because winter isn’t great. December and January are great. But February and March have me pacing the house like a penned timberwolf.
If I were a painting, it would be titled, “Girl Trapped in Snowglobe.”
If I were an action movie, “Desolation Dawn.”
A paint color, “Yawning Gray.”
Last month, I was supposed to escape to Palm Springs for a weekend with my Traveling Book Club besties. There was a blizzard. All flights canceled.
Of course, spring break is coming… in April.
But, wait, do you hear that? The sound of angel choirs singing and lords a’ leaping? The tingling of my senses waking from a long winter’s nap? The thundering crack! of my smile lines, free to move at last? Yes! Gretchen is leaving the state next week! Bound once again (fingers crossed, dammit!) for sunny California and six full, delicious, delirious days of writing.
Book 4 might just happen, folks. The writer in me might re-emerge, after all.
Stay tuned.
And now…
What I’ve Been Reading
Charming book alert!
I told you my book club was reading Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce, though I did not expect 300 pages of coleopterology to make me laugh and cry and wishing for more. Thanks to these ladies’ adventures, I scoured the atlas, learned new Britishisms, and briefly considered moving into a treehouse.
From the summary:
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist—the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty in her tight-fitting pink suit and pom-pom sandals seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.
If you read the book (which you should), read all the way to the end where Joyce includes the photograph that started her whole journey with the novel. Hint: Like every truly great tale, it involves ghosts and jodhpurs.
Support Indie Bookstores at Bookshop.org
Where I’m Going
More author appearances are on the horizon!
April 18th at 6:30 pm
Montgomery Public Library, Montgomery, MN
April 29th at 10:30 am
Carver County Library, Chanhassen, MN
Book Clubs!
I’m chatting Book Haters’ with the TinyABC Book Club via Zoom next week. Great name, no? If your book club is reading one of my novels, reach out. Chatting and laughing with readers is my favorite.
Who I’m Thanking
Thanks to the Franklin University Alumni Book Club who hosted me last week. Great questions and lots of laughs. Until next time, Grizzlies!
When We’ll Meet Again
Are you on BookBub, the service that connects you with authors and lets you know when books go on sale? I’ve been nerding out there lately and I like it. Follow me. Tell your pals.
I’ll be back in a month (or so…). If you can’t wait that long, read my weekly essays by upgrading your subscription.
Until then, be well and read often!
Oh, and, hey. What are you reading these days? Drop your recommendations in the comments!
Gretchen