Triple Decker, etc.

I find it hard to believe that Triple Decker is finally published.

It was a long time coming. I began writing the novel during the Iraqi war adding events as they happened.

It isn't a war story, but about a Boston Irish Catholic family living in a triple decker. For non-Bostonians, the wooden triple deckers have an apartment on each floor. In the case of my fictional family, the elder Flanagans own the building and rent the two other flats to their daughters and their families.

The matriarch Bridget supplements income as a seamstress. Daughter Peggy, a widow and mother of two sons, has been let go of her long-time job after a bank merger. Katie and her husband on the ground own a plumbing business. He would like to move to Florida. Katie doesn't want to move out of the old neighborhood.

The family has Sunday dinners together, cheer the Patriots and do the things most families do. In other words, their lives are relatively normal.That is until Peggy's son is killed in Iraq and after that nothing is the same.

When I was writing it, I had two versions one in American English, one in English-English. There was plenty of arguments with my agent over wording, especially in the American version. I acquiesced on the English-English.

Eventually, I just put it away and wrote the Third Culture Kids Mystery Series.  
The heroine Annie became my friend as I helped her solve mysteries in Paris, Geneva, Insel Poel, Ely, Schweiz, Caleb's Landing and Argelès. She was a part time translator so she could follow her passion, historical research. She had the misfortune to trip over bodies wherever she went. I saw her marry a French police chief and have a daughter. One more Annie book will be out next year, Murder in Edinburgh. I wish her a happy life.

Then I went on a mission to make legislators realize that although abortion is sad, nothing will stop it. I wrote Coat Hangers and Knitting Needles, which I self published. My daughter is sending copies to those who might have a say. It tells the history of abortion throughout history but concentrates on the United States prior to Roe v. Wade.

After listening to the horror stories of what women went through I was unable to write for several months except for blogs.

Then I was going through my computer and I came across the Triple Decker document.

I reread it. Then I rewrote it.

The publication is a thrill. My regular cover designer Deirdre Wait captured the feeling of a triple decker house from a photograph by William Jordan. For years I had wanted art work in my novels. This time I won with a sketch of a triple decker by Lori de Boer.

Giving birth of a book, is a bit like giving birth to a child. One puts so much energy into the relationships. And after the final proofing, sends it off into the world to fend for itself.