Bike Paths and Changes

Eventually we all feel the changes. Our landscape, our lives, our world. This morning I took my dog DD on a walk that I had probably taken a thousand times in the past forty years. Most of them with Dave, holding his hand, and talking about our lives. I highly recommend walking with your partner. Talk about everything while there are no distractions, no cars, no children, no phones - just walk and talk. Well this morning I went back to an old dirt road that we walked together so many times, and guess what? The old dirt road is gone. It's been widened and paved, and I didn't recognize it. It reminded me that my partner is gone, our walks have ceased, and life as I knew it  - changed just like that old dirt road. It's been swept clean. I'm trying to adjust to the paved path. The new and improved bike trail will accomedate numerous bikers and hikers. It's close to the National Sea Shore. I'm trying to stay positive, but sometimes changes are not for the better. I didn't meet one bike or one person while on the new and improved road. Maybe that's another plus. I am after all a solitary person. I just miss what was once so familiar. The scrub pine and oak has been pushed back, the big ruts and holes filled in, and holding hands while walking, gone in the blink of an eye.
I spend more time writing, visiting girlfriends, playing with grandkids, but the essence of that comfortable old road is missing. I get satisfaction from my memories. They sustain me and writing about Dave, like that old road is part of a memory now.
In other news: Sharks, pond scum, and plankton blooms, just enough to give one pause and reflect on the many changes in our world. I try to keep the faith in all things. As the saying goes: This too shall pass.Winter will follow autumn, death will follow life, and change is the only constant.
So the new Crowley mystery has got me excited. Title: Watch for the Crow. What do you think of this? The nickname the Crow has been given to the chief by local youth. Two teen boys find a body in the dunes and Chief Crowley must find the killer. I see the story in my head. I've got the beginning and the why, the who, the where, what and when. If I work like crazy, I think it will be ready next spring.
The trouble with writing and self-publishing is that I haven't broken even yet. The last book cost more than I've made so far. I'm about halfway. It's great for tax purposes, a business loss.   I'm going to have to make some changes, find a different way to make my books a business. My problem is that I just want to write, I hate marketing it myself and of coarse it costs money, so there goes any profits. What I figure is that I'll just keep writing and somehow marketing and publicity will eventually find its way to me. Not a very good strategy, I know, but as long as I can still pay the bills, I'll just keep writing.
I had an opportunity to read from my manuscript, Arethusa. I read chapter 4, Swimming and Racing to a friendly group in Provincetown. I think the crowd was pleased. I did a book signing at the Whydah Museum last week. So I can say I did do some marketing. I don't push myself as much as I could. Being a writer is solitary, an introverts ideal job. While marketing is really the opposite, pushing yourself is so difficult for me. I guess I'm that introvert.