So much has changed since I last wrote to you, dear readers, fellow writers, and friends. For the world, for me. Despite so much tragedy and tumult, I hope you’re emerging better and stronger for having gone through it, discovering and embracing what’s really important to you. In my case, I became intentional about writing again. I learned once more to love the process of stringing words together. And I loved to learn even more about the craft of writing and what makes story work.

Having already written six published novels, why did I need to go on that journey? Well, in 2019, the stable center of my life crumbled virtually overnight. My wife of 27 years, the “Kate” in the dedication of all my books, decided she was no longer the person she’d been all her life. Gender, presentation, and finally even whether she wanted to exist anymore were up in the air. Being supportive wasn’t enough to keep us together…or keep her alive. Amidst all that, writing held no allure. Precious little did.

But I’m here to testify that new love in middle age can be sweeter, mellower, and even more fulfilling. I’ve been friends with Kim Conrey for a dozen years thanks to the Atlanta Writers Club. When our marriages were dissolving simultaneously, we found even more to talk about than usual and discovered we had more in common than either of us could’ve imagined. Falling in love with this wickedly smart and funny, gorgeous woman was the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

Kim is a dazzling good writer. You can find her powerful essays on The New Southern Fugitives. The Bitter Southerner, and other websites, and she blogs much more passionately and consistently than me at Harm OCD: You Are Not Alone. By contrast, her enthusiasm for writing didn’t flag a bit while pursuing her divorce. In fact, she embarked on writing not one but two books and invited me to be her sounding board. As she devised her new novel and a combination memoir/self-help book, I became enthusiastic about working on my own projects again.

Having deliberated for years about whether to write sequels to my most popular books—the Southern historical novel Hardscrabble Road and Southern mystery Aftermath—I bore down and got busy. I started outlining a follow-up to Aftermath that sent Janet Wright on a new adventure, this time with Bo Riccardi, the heroine of my suspense-thriller, Watch What You Say.

Then I received my latest royalty check. The stats therein reminded me that Hardscrabble Road has continued to outsell all my other books combined. So, I’ve set aside the other sequel (only temporarily!), and I’m honoring the choice of most of my readers. My Hardscrabble Road sequel will probably be published in 2022 with a predictable title like Return to Hardscrabble Road, but my working title (courtesy of my friend Phil Fasone) is Scrabble Harder. I’m having a ball reuniting Roger with his family and introducing all sorts of new conflicts and complications into their lives, bless their hearts.

Here’s the best news, though: Kim and I are engaged and will be married in late July! I hope I can continue to be a source of joy, wisdom, and strength for her and her daughters, Sloane and Brea. I hope I can make this sequel even better than the life that came before. And for those of you pursuing or contemplating your own Happily Ever After, I hope you’ll be as lucky as me. Because surely no one has ever been, or could ever be, luckier.