Happy Holidays and Wishes for a Better New Year

This has been a tough year. As some of you know, I lost a long-time friend and a sweet, elderly homebound patron to COVID. I know some of you have also lost friends, relatives, and co-workers. We’ve all also lost many other things — group gatherings, family events, businesses that have closed, etc. Hope is on the horizon in the form of a vaccine, but it may take a while before the effects are evident. In the meantime, we hope and pray that 2021 is better.

Although we’ve lost a lot, we have gained some things. We’ve gained knowledge of how to connect online through programs such as Zoom, we’ve found ways to occupy ourselves during lockdown and make the most of a bad situation. Personally, I’ve been lucky that my husband, daughter, and I have stayed safe. I’ve published 3 books this year, Memory Makers, No Gravestone Unturned (Cobble Cove #5), and Pet Posts: The Cat Chats.

My short science fiction stories, “The Felindae Mission” and “Mirror Image” appeared in the Red Penguin Collection, What Lies Below.

I had 3 poems published in anthologies: “Window Cats” in the 2020 Nassau County Voices in Verse; “Poetry Contest” in the 2020 Bard’s Annual; and “Advent” in the ‘Tis the Seasons anthology published by Red Penguin Books.

In 2020, I also won two awards – the Cat Writers’ Association’s Muse Medallion for my eBook, Sneaky’s Christmas Mystery (on sale for 99 cents through the end of December), and a 5-star silver medal from Readers Favorite for my psychological mystery, Sea Scope. 

One thing that has kept me sane through these difficult times has been my family, pets, and the support of fellow authors and readers. I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday and much brighter days in the New Year.