It has now been nearly three weeks since my entire world was upended, and I am making very small steps back to being a writer. This post is one of those steps--restarting my blog.

Getting the blog moving is going to require some changes. For now, I'm not accepting, reviewing, or much reading any mysteries. Mostly I'm sticking with rereading favorite books that offer me comfort (if only by being very familiar). So I apologize to anyone whose book I've promised to review--I assume at some point I will be able to do that, but for now, no.

That said, I have finished one review of a book I'd read and started to review before this happened, and will post that on Monday. Writing that review was okay, so when I'm ready I think I'll go back to at least Middle Grade reviews.

The other main recent feature of this blog has been photos from our travels. I do want to continue to share those, including perhaps more of my husband's amazing work, as I am able to look at it. I will probably include much less personal commentary, because it's just hard right now. So probably not this week, but maybe next, I'll share more Antarctica photos.

In other news: I've written most of a page of notes, and about 10 lines on a story for the next IWSG anthology. Because that call is for a science fiction story, I'm taking it as far from my reality as I can go, and using the need to research and imagine aliens and alien worlds as a distraction from my own shattered world. Thinking about the story seems to help me sleep, so even if nothing more comes of it, that's good.

I am still unsure what I'm going to do about continuing with the Pismawallops PTA #5, which is in early edits. I was tempted at first to just leave it, but a few days ago I was thinking about how Dave was my greatest fan, always telling the people we met in our travels that I'm a writer. If he were here, he'd be urging me to find a way forward.  I will; I just don't know when.

This is hard, but one thing I know: I am a writer, and in writing I find my sanity, though for now most of that writing isn't for sharing. 

One of Dave's wonderful penguin photos, because penguins are always good: