I have a long history of having no idea where I am when I drive. The open road is not my medium. I am far better on the open water. GPS recently changed that but only when I can get all the data input. But recently I have discovered celestial navigation. I can now find my way home from any place in the northern hemisphere using only the stars, an almanac, and a watch. Since most of my friends and family don’t have the courage to let me drive, this will not make a big difference in their lives, but it will in mine.

This all came about because I’m working on the rewrite of my second book The Map of True Places, which will come out in the summer of 2010. The stars are turning out to be important to the story, an image system of sorts, in the same way that lace became an image system in The Lace Reader. I have to say that I didn’t plan it that way, it just sort of happened. I was lost in poetry and literary quotes. But I couldn’t make those work the way I wanted them to. They weren’t adding to the story. So I stepped back and took a look at what I had written and was surprised to find that the stars were everywhere, as was navigation, both historically and metaphorically.

So I’m studying celestial navigation. I’m learning to use a sextant and mathematical tables. By the time I’m finished, I plan to be certified. So, if one of you ever gets stuck with me on a boat in the middle of nowhere without a GPS or Loran, and it’s a clear night, you can count on me to get us home. As long as it’s in the Northern Hemisphere. And there’s an almanac on board. And one of us still wears a watch.

It’s August 18th. The paperback edition of The Lace Reader came out today. The last year has flown by. Life has changed so much that it’s difficult to remember exactly what before was like. Still, it’s thrilling to see the new cover and to read the reviews that are printed on the first few pages of this edition. Tonight, my thanks go out to everyone who made this happen. Tomorrow, I’ll sit and write again.

During the month of July, I didn’t write, I swam. The weather wasn’t all that cooperative, but it didn’t matter. When I got to the cottage, I was on crutches. A stupid move (very stupid) on the first day of vacation wrenched my knee, and I ended up in the ER, unable to walk.  Just trying to make it to the lake was painful. But after a few days swimming, dragging my hurt knee through the water as I swam, I was able to leave the crutches behind. Water has always been a miracle cure for me, as much for the spirit as for the body.

Last summer, life interfered in both wonderful and terribly sad ways, and we only got to the lake for a day and a half. So having a month up in New Hampshire this summer fulfilled a dream for me. Every few days, I checked emails at the Country Bookseller in Wolfeboro, one of my favorite places. And every few days I bought a new book. So far, my summer favorites have been Olive Kitteredge and  Netherland. Next up: The Help. We also rediscovered a wonderful place on Route 16 in Ossipee called Windy Fields Farm. We’ve been dropping by for years to buy our blueberries and tomatoes, but this year Chris and James, who are both talented chefs, started a little restaurant, and we stopped by just about every day to pick up dinner to go. Everything is local and wonderful and hard to resist. They make the best roasted corn salsa I’ve every tried, actually it may be the only roasted corn salsa I’ve ever tried, but it is amazing.  If you are passing by on your way north, make sure you stop.

We saw both the sunrise and sunset almost every day in July. We listened to the frogs and loons at night, and last Sunday, while we were drinking our morning coffee, we watched a bald eagle land in the tree with the rope swing just feet away from where we sat.

Tomorrow, my editor sends my new book back with her notes. On August 18th, the paperback of The Lace Reader is released, and I will start a new book tour. And the House of the Seven Gables and The Salem Trolley just began their Lace Reader tour.  If any of you are coming to Salem with a group, it is a great way to see the sites from the book. You can learn more about the tour here.