I have to smile. I just looked up the blogs listed here under I Really Want to Know. And yes, after difficult deadlines, apparently question and answer seems positively enlightened.

I came up with the same solution in 2013, proving once again that we are, if nothing else, creatures of habit.My Facebook Readers came to the rescue this time, as they did back then, so with many thanks to Marsha, Debra, Mary, Kathy and Fran, here we go:

From Marsha: What things do you like to do to relax? Do you dream about plots when you are working on a book?

Thanks for asking, Marsha. I love to knit, and I love to quilt, and I especially love them if I’m listening to a book. Right now that would be Still Life by Louise Penny, which I’m really enjoying.

I’m beginning to pay attention to exactly what parts of those hobbies I enjoy most. For quilting hand applique and small hand quilting projects are great. I’m not a big fan of all the prep work on larger projects, the cutting and ironing, and I suspect eventually I’ll do nothing but small projects I can finish by hand. That I find relaxing. For knitting I like something just challenging enough to keep boredom at bay and just simple enough to keep me from unraveling stitches every few rows. Right now I’m making a Stegosaurus hoodie for my three-year-old grandson after finishing a new baby sweater set for his soon-to-be baby brother. I’m also working on a baby quilt. Did I love tracing and cutting more than 60 small pieces from fusible web? I did not. Needle turn is much more fun.

On a more athletic level, I like kayaking and long walks. 

From Debra: Do you have a prize quilt? My work or someone else’s.

Good question, Debra. I think perhaps the Happiness Key quilt that I made in a pattern giveaway with quiltmaker and designer Pat Sloan. It’s based on my novel Happiness Key. The quilt is all finished, hand quilted and only needs binding. But it will go in my NY house to remind me of my Florida house. Pat and I also designed and made a stocking quilt, Season of Grace, twenty-five little stockings, each different, hanging on a large quilt. I made it and gave it to my granddaughters, and every year I fill each little stocking with goodies during Advent. Shopping for tiny things to tuck away is great fun. Now I need something similar for my grandsons.

From Mary: Will you be writing any more Ministry is Murder books? I really miss those.

From Kathy: Will you ever return to the Shenandoah Album Series?

I’m probably asked these questions more than any other, especially about the Shenandoah Album Series. Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve already started a substantial Shenandoah Album project. It’s not Book Six, but I don’t think you will be disappointed. The problem is finding time to finish it.

I want very much to go back to Emerald Springs, find Aggie and Ed, and see what they’re doing. Fingers are crossed I can do that in the future.

Kathy also asked: A few years ago, we stopped by the River in Tom’s Brook, a pilgrimage after reading the Shenandoah Album Series. To my delight, I found a suspension bridge over the river. Would this bridge have been the one in Touching Stars? 

Bet it was. Did it look like this one?

And finally, from Fran: Do you have favorite books you have read? Do you have favorites you have written?

I love reading my friends books. But in terms of people I don’t know yet? I just read Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and loved it. I mentioned Louise Penny above, and she has an entire series I’m looking forward to after I finish  the first book. I love Alan Bradley’s Flavia De Luce novels. I think The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher are a hoot. I read George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones well before the HBO series. 

As for my own? I always love the last book I finished. So in this case? When We Were Sisters, which will be out next June.

Thanks to all of you. It was a pleasure.

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