I'm back and ready to write!

Happy New Year! It’s February 2 and for me it is the beginning of a new and better new year. I want to forget 2010. It was not my year with lots of personal issues. (This blog will be keyed TMI) In the good news department I lost a ton of weight got in shape for the first time in more decades than I want to admit to. The bad news is that losing weight comes with side effects that no one tells you about. So surgery was required in July just after A Case of Hometown Blues was released. Eight weeks of recuperation finished off my summer. Fall came and my plan entailed editing my fourth Mitch Malone Mystery and get a book ahead. I had a great idea and did a ton of research over Labor Day weekend for book 5.

Ready to dive in I started long hours at my computer as well as teaching Developmental English classes at a local college. I’ve had problems for a couple of years with my shoulder with calcium build up and figured it was time to get another cortisone shot. I will spare you the gory details but my tendon hung by a thread from a puncture. It only took two more doctors to find out what the real issue was and I needed another surgery. Not what I had planned for November and December! My right writing arm was immobilized in a sling for six weeks and then at least six weeks of physical therapy to get it usable. I became very proficient at one-handed typing.

February marks the beginning of my freedom. I’m getting better every day. Physical therapy is getting my arm in shape and I can’t wait to get to my computer. I’m up to an hour at a time before I have to quit. I’m planning to get back into Facebook, Twitter, networking groups and blogging. I may be a little sporadic at first. I’ve tried to keep up on email but have more than 600 unread messages which I believed could wait. If I missed something, please resend it.

If anyone will be in Chicago for Love is Murder this weekend, track me down. I can’t wait to reconnect! I’ve missed all my online friends!