Letter from Joy
March 14, 2025
Hi, everyone,
Well, we're back in Florida and the weather has been absolutely perfect. I'm sitting at my computer now, staring out at a cloudless blue sky and the golfers making something of a mess of the eighth fairway behind our house in their quest to reach the green. Some venture dangerously close to the waterway that runs along the side of the fairway, blissfully unaware of the alligator lurking on the side of the slope. Normally, the alligators make a beeline into the water when a golfer gets too near, but you never know. And alligators can move at a speed of 35 miles an hour! I always keep my eyes peeled, although I confess that I love seeing them.
And speaking of golf, I seem to have found my game again, although who knows how long that will last. But as of the moment, I'm hitting the ball a ton, as far, if not farther, than I ever have, although you'd never know it from my scores, which are still hovering around 100. My normal range is between 95 and 105, but as most golfers will tell you, when one part of your game is working, the other parts often tend to go awol. So when my long game was off, as it was off for longer than I care to think about, my short game kept me going. And now the opposite is happening. But, as they say: You know why they call it golf? All the other four-letter words were taken!
But it's lovely to be able to spend so much time outdoors. The only negative thing about these extended high-pressure atmospheres is that they tend to trigger my ocular migraines. I don't get the headaches, but I get the auras - usually a bunch of flashing lights and squiggles that interfere with my vision for about 20 minutes - and then I sometimes feel a heaviness around my eyes afterward for a while. I don't usually have to take anything for them and thankfully, they don't happen all that frequently, although they often come in clusters. So nothing for a month, then a whole bunch. Oh, well. There are certain things you can control, and most others that you can't. So I'm really trying to concentrate on those things within my power and to just let the rest go. Not always easy in light of what's happening in the world today. Why can't we all just live and let live? We don't always have to agree, but can't we at least be civil?
It's my birthday on the 18th, and I'm quite excited about it. It's a pretty big number and I'm convinced my mother got her decades mixed up, but again, not much I can do except try to enjoy every day. My husband (of 51 years!!!) and I are going out for a nice dinner, and that's about it, as far as celebrations go. My daughter, Annie, and her husband and my beautiful grandchildren are coming up tomorrow for a celebratory lunch, and my daughter Shannon and her husband arrive toward the end of the month for 10 days, and we'll celebrate with them then. Both my parents died in their sixties, but my mother's father lived to be 94 and my father's mother lived to be 97. She was a pretty miserable person, so I've always said I'm determined to outlive her. We shall see. That's still a long way off, but hopefully, I'll let you know.
Not doing much of anything except puzzles of every shape and kind. Trying to read, but haven't found a book that grabs me. Some start out well, then gradually fall apart. I'm in the middle of one now that has garnered all sorts of rave reviews and been nominated for a million literary awards, but I can't stand it. I hate the heroine and find the entire situation totally unbelievable. Also, the author constantly refers to her young child as "they", which is driving me crazy, not allowing me to get any kind of picture of the child. A writer's job is to communicate, not obscure. Another thing that drives me crazy - and mercifully, this author doesn't do that - is authors who don't use quotation marks to indicate dialogue. This always strikes me as an unnecessary literary affectation. Why make things difficult for the reader?
Anyway, my new novel, JENNY COOPER HAS A SECRET, already a bestseller in Germany and Switzerland, will be out in North America in August (available to preorder now through Amazon in the U.S. and Canada) and has a bunch of different covers, depending where you buy it. I had the opportunity to read it again recently, courtesy of the advance reading copy I received, and I have to say I'm really happy with it, and I hope you'll be as excited about it as I am. Also, THE HOUSEKEEPER is being released in trade paperback format in the U.S. this month, and I believe that one of my older novels, PUPPET, is being retitled as HER MOTHER'S SHADOW and will be available in Canada very soon. I'm still trying to work out some of the plot elements of my new idea, but hope to get started on it when I return to Toronto in April.
And that's about it for now. Stay safe and healthy. And above all, be kind.
Warmly,
Joy