Vacations and books are meant for each other. Hours of endless, uninterrupted reading… This time I read three books. The first was “Spock’s World”, a well-written TOS Star Trek story Diane Duane, 1988. (Yes, I’m a Trekkie) The second was a cozy cat mystery which I will not name since I didn’t think it was very good. Still, it sold widely, even in the check-out aisle of Walgreens. Go figure? The third, which I am still reading and enjoying, is “A Bitch Called Hope”, by Lily Gardner, Portland mystery author. Phillip Margolin calls it “…a well-crafted mystery novel with a heroine you can root for, plenty of action and a satisfying ending.”

For me, writing is right up there with reading. The perfect weather, sunshine and warmth; the rolling thunder of the surf; the timeless time with no obligations – all are totally conducive to the creative spirit. I am well into my third Crazy Cat Lady mystery. Here’s how it begins:

“I’ve been called a crazy cat lady all my life, but I never knew what crazy was until now. Languishing in this dingy hole, knowing my freedom is in the well-meaning but inept hands of amateurs, I fear I shall lose my mind. The options are simple: I could be released; I could be arrested; I could be convicted and sentenced to a horrible, public death. I have to laugh. The thing I regret most in this gray limbo of incarceration is not the fear of an uncertain future; not the anger at being judged without proof; not even the terrible food. It’s the absence of my cats.”

Lynley Cannon, “Cat’s Paw, a Crazy Cat Lady mystery”

I wonder what comes next. Because I write like I read (only slower), I do not yet know…