Thursday, June 4, 2020

Wendy Welch is Juggling


LUCY BURDETTE: Though we've never met in person, Wendy Welch and I have a lot of interesting connections--cats, writing, love of bookstores, to name a few. And, John and I went with her husband Jack last year for a wonderful 2-week trip in Scotland. You've met her before too--talking about foster care and her bookstore and cat adoptions. A couple of years ago, she asked if I would read a draft of the mystery she was writing and I agreed. I gave her some notes and didn't hear much more about it. But today she's visiting to tell us about that project and the wealth of others that have fallen onto her lap. (Move over cats!) Welcome Wendy!


WENDY WELCH: Call it whistling in the dark, first world problems, humble bragging. I dunno, but here’s what happened---
In 2019 I contracted a book of edited essays for McFarland Press, turning over the manuscript in February 2020. Remember February, when the world was normal but there was some kinda problem for international airport travelers and cruise ship passengers?

COVID 19 delayed the summer release of From the Front Lines of the Appalachian Addiction Crisis: Healthcare Providers Discuss Opioids, Meth and Recovery until fall while McFarland editors set up home offices. Which means the edits are coming back now, and I'm contacting healthcare professionals during a pandemic, asking them to provide edits. That feels… ehm, wrong?

Corresponding with the amazing Susan Kilby at McFarland about the changing face of healthcare and social resistance as we worked on Front Lines, I typed casually, "Wouldn't it be fun to do a book on silly COVID conspiracies?"

A day later she came back to me and said, "Yes, my editorial acquisitions team thinks it would."

From casual comment to contract in one simple e-mail; I zoomed with a friend grad school John Bodner, who specializes in conspiracy theory study.

"Let's do this fun book about conspiracies," I said.

He gave me an odd look. "Which part is fun: people burning 5G masts, white supremacy, or threats to shoot contact tracers?"

Ooops. Three days later, knee-deep in murk behind the dark side of the looking glass, I realized how seriously I had overestimated my emotional capacity. Untying Gordian knots of bad juju flying internationally is hard. Add in the real time swiftness of misinformation actively contributing to rioting, deaths, and economic fear, and this book takes on significant meaning I don’t feel up to.

The conspiracy book was fluke-turned-mission. Who in their right mind suggests a book idea with a July deadline to an editor when she has another book due in August?
It was an accident….


Thinking that From the Front Lines was near completion and looking for another anthology activity just as COVID took over our futures, I had contacted Ohio University/Swallow Press about compiling coronavirus first-person experience narratives from doctors and nurses. The acceptance appeared one hour and five minutes after I sent the query--on the day between making the casual remark to Susan at McFarland that I didn’t realize was a proposal, and Susan’s "McFarland wants to do this" e-mail.

Just before the two-book accident, I worked with my friend Lisa Dailey to e-publish a fun fiction read called Bad Boy in the Bookstore. It launched as a duo of "here's something fun to read while you're stuck at home" and a pay-it-forward; the $5 fee goes to a food fund for essential and laid-off workers.

Launching Bad Boy didn't take a lot of work on my part, as Lisa did the heavy lifting of logistics, but what should have been a culminating triumph to my first-ever fiction manuscript, started three years ago, shrank to something nearing guilt. “What good is a light read during dark times?” I said to my husband Jack the other day.

He gave me a stern look. “I see you fight every day with those concepts you are trying to explain so people can stop fighting with each other. And at night you escape into crocheting and medieval novels.” (I’m a sucker for Philippa Gregory.) “Why are you downplaying escaping? It’s a necessary part of survival.”

That’s why I married him, folks.

It is an intense time for all of us; pressure is pressure no matter from where it is applied; we are each fighting fierce battles. Be good to yourselves, and be safe in mind, body and spirit.

What brain relaxation are you using during COVID times to give yourself a break: books, crafts, exercise? Tell us about it.


Wendy Welch is the author of four books, an avid crocheter, and an avowed Appalachian for life. She and her husband (Scottish folksinger Jack Beck) adopt FELV cats and ensure their final years are golden. She is the world's worst gardener, having once killed mint.

Don't forget to check out BAD BOY IN THE BOOKSTORE...and then pass it on...

43 comments:

  1. I think you’ve managed to end up with a really tight schedule, Wendy, but I also think it will all work out just fine . . . . I wonder if you might tell us a bit about “Bad Boy in the Bookstore?”

    What am I doing during COVID times? Reading . . . baking . . . reading . . . .

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    1. It's based on a true premise; my husband was a federal prison visitor for years and one day came home with a napkin covered in diagrams and arrows. He'd described our bookstore to a man twice convicted of murder, because the guy was a tunneler and Jack figured he could give good advice about digging out our newly-discovered basement. I said to Jack, 'someday someone is going to knock on the door and say there were a fellow prison visitor with you and I'll never be sure if that's true, or it was D escaping again.'

      From that, this book was born. It's about three friends trying to be badasses when they're really pretty native, and a con man getting conned.

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  2. Books and TV are my usual go to. It's hard right now since work is so stressful. Haven't been working all the time, but it is 11PM here, and I think I am finally about to log off my work computer for the night. Sadly, I think the next two days are going to be just as bad.

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    1. It's hard. Be good to yourself and others. It helps.

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    2. Hang in there Mark--it's got to improve! Glad you were able to stop in here with us...

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  3. You're having quite the year, Wendy! Congratulations. You got this thing.

    I'm writing my books, reading, baking, and taking my daily power walk - and gardening, finally.

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    1. Gardening..... plants see me coming and hide.

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    2. Ha! My organic vegetable garden is modest but thriving (I was an organic farmer in one of my many past lives...).

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  4. Congratulations Wendy on the upcoming release of Front Lines and sharing your journey of juggling new contracts during this stressful time.

    Normally, reading is my salvation but my normal reading mojo is still not back.

    But now that I am bks to go outside in nice weather, exercise is my stress reliever. We are still under a State of Emergency until June 30 and are limited to gatherings of a max of 5 people, with physical distancing. So our walking and hiking groups have smaller outings most days that last 2-3 hours. I try to go 2-3 times/week. And I either do solo walks or cycling on other days.

    I also need this exercise to burn off calories from my home baking and cooking!

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    1. Jack asked me the other day if the act of stirring heavy batter negated what happened when you eat it....

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    2. Oh I think the answer to that is a definite yes Wendy!

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    3. Stirring heavy batter and kneading bread dough is a great workout for your arms, too!

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  5. Wendy, you must have amazing organizational skills.

    I once had to write a nonfiction book in four months. It's nerve-wracking. I don't know how you do it, over and over again, like Edith Maxwell does.

    Reading, cooking, bingeing on British series, napping, and gardening. I had a blank slate in a new yard, and now it's starting to look like a garden here. When my new tiller arrives tomorrow, look out.

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    1. No, that's the point! I wouldn't have gotten in this muddle if I had organizational skills. The good news is, I spoke with the COVID health in Appalachia publisher earlier this week and we pushed back to September, as much to capture the probable changes in fall as a need for something to shift.

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    2. Phew Wendy, glad you were able to push that back.

      Karen, a new tiller! A moment for rejoicing:)

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    3. That must be a nice release of some tension, to have a later deadline.

      I just bought your book for my Nook. Looks like a fun read, thanks!

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  7. Wendy, Wendy, Wendy, I'd say you were just a girl who can't say NO but it looks like this was all your idea! Whew! I started laughing when I realized what you'd done. It's so funny when a casual conversation, or email, turns into a project. Twice. Oh, my. Well, congratulations are in order and the ideas for your books are terrific.
    I have been reading tons and mostly choosing very easy to read mysteries with mostly happy endings. A couple of serious, intense books were difficult reads during this time. It's more what I haven't been doing that is so different. No to newspapers. No to tv, practically none at all. And no walks in the woods. Why not? Can't explain it.
    Good luck with your projects and deadlines. Love the story of the tunneler so I'll be looking for your Bad Boy!

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    1. You know what, Judy? I turn to crochet for solitude and down time thinking, but where I have been pursuing increasingly challenging projects (3-d jewelry and afghans, etc) I went back to very basic patterns that depend on repetition for beauty. You can see some examples on my FB page; they're all about mindlessness. We need it right now.

      AND REJOICE WITH ME! Literally this morning, after this blog was up, McFarland signed off on the final edits for FROM THE FRONT LINES. It's DONE!

      Well, okay, there's that index thing, but....

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  8. Wendy, those projects were meant to be, it seems. Pretty sure you'll manage somehow! Keep on crocheting, rescuing cats, and stirring that heavy batter! I'll be looking for your first fiction--great cause for donations, too.

    I'm fighting to save three rose bushes--and would love your advice on killing mint ;-) So gardening, baking (chocolate chunk cookies, anyone?), watching movies and reading--currently cookbooks--the ones with lots of glossy photos....

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    1. I'm thinking of hiring myself out as just approaching the mint and smiling, and it withers in terror... just, travel in these troubled times, y'know?

      Personally I advise over-watering leading to mudslides.

      Hope you like BAD BOY. At the time I finished, after Roberta's kind comments and all, it was a personal big deal. Now it's just a baby blip in a strange world; I almost feel guilty for being proud of it. Ah, you know what I mean.

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    2. I have been told that mint is a relentless zombie that will take over any space, so be ruthless! My mint is controlled by growing in large planters. They overwinter indoors and then keep coming back every year.

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    3. I agree with Grace, mint is very invasive, as is rosemary and bamboo where I live. Growing in containers is best. As to destroying the mint and saving the roses? I honestly have no idea. All those roots are mixed up, growing and binding with each other.

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  9. Congratulations on all the opportunities, Wendy!

    I have two books to write this year. I just finished the first (which will be turned in this August) and I need to start the second, which is due February 2021. But it's fighting me. All will be well.

    We've been watching a lot of Poirot lately, I'm re-re-re-re-reading Harry Potter and I like digital jigsaw puzzles. And playing with my dog (he disemboweled his latest squeaky toy, so now we have a sturdy piece of rope to play tug with).

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  10. YOU GO GIRL! Our dog is eating his beds. We blame stress.

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  11. Wendy, this is quite some coincidence! Do you believe in coincidences? Most of yesterday I spent going over a coronavirus conspiracy that just popped into my head. I finally gave up thinking about it because I couldn't imagine how it could be pulled off. Unfortunately I could all too easily imagine the benefit to a particular group. It was definitely not what I would consider a "fun" conspiracy either. What 'fun conspiracies' are there anyway?

    I did enjoy learning how to got to be where you are. Amazing!

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    1. This is so inspirational! I loved hearing about your evolving thought process… Fascinating! And thank you for letting us in on your process.What I am doing to cope or change? Somehow, I am staying up later… Time seems to be very warped, so I am just going with it. Good luck on all your projects! You are so wise.

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    2. There are no coincidences, Judi - that's the first thing we learn in conspiracy study.... :]

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  12. And we planted a little vegetable herb garden, which I am in ordinately fond of. I watch it every day. Yesterday I went out to find the lettuce had been decimated by marauding creatures.. grrrrr.

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    1. I rescued a baby bunny this morning; one of our cats wanted to play with him. He went back into the brush pile and I have high hopes he will tell his siblings to leave the garden alone, out of reciprocity.

      A girl can dream.

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  13. Congratulations on your book being published. My de-stressing is normally done with yarn and hooks, books and old movies. But right everything, absolutely everything except the essentials for work and limited food prep, is packed in anticipation of moving, if I every get the green light. Thankfully my Kindle is still out, so I'm reading TBR pile there. I'm also doing some serious day-dreaming of better days, past and most definitely future.

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  14. Wendy, I liked your well-written essay a lot.Thank you for sharing. And both congrats and good luck with your multi-projects. What am I doing? Baking and tv, like everyone else. (I have turned into a covid19 cliche) And trying hard to accomplish at least one useful thing every day.Some days I even do more (yay!)

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  15. Friends and I were commenting yesterday on what's gone missing from stores since COVID came. bicycles, inflatable pools, electric sewing machines, canning supplies, yeast, and trampolines, and seed potatoes. I don't know what kind of apocalypse people have in mind?

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  16. Wendy, welcome to Jungle Reds! And congratulations on your new book.

    Lucy, thanks for introducing us to Wendy.

    Sorry I am not eloquent this morning. Brain tired! I have been reading a lot and exercising when I can. I remind myself that we will get through this crisis.

    Diana

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  17. Hi Wendy! I feel like we are friends as I get your newsletter, and every week I look forward to hearing from you and Jack! Having lived in Scotland and been married to a Scot, I love hearing Jack's stories. Tell him I said "hi", too.

    Congratulations on all your projects. Whew. But all so worthwhile, and you should give yourself a pat on the back for your first published fiction. That is a very big deal!

    I thought, at the beginning of COVID, that I would bake a lot. So far I've made cornbread twice... And although I normally cook a lot, somehow I seem to be doing more. Other than that, walking my dogs, puttering in the garden, working, and not reading as much as I'd like.

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    1. Hi Deborah, are you getting enough sleep? I hope so! I noticed that I am getting more sleep. I can sleep in as late as I want to.

      Diana

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  18. I started one of your books last week Deborah! Reading is currently at night in bed, but I look forward to it as both rest and ritual.

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  19. Hi Wendy - I follow you on FB and have read your book about your bookstore. So interesting, such good reading. Thank you.

    I continue to escape the real world by watching the endless episodes of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. Their personal dramas distract me and make me grateful for my own small world and its challenges.

    Of course, I am also continuing to read, but that takes more energy than does watching the small screen.

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    1. Reading has become the bedtime activity for us, I confess. COVID-brain is real. My day job is running a graduate medical education consortium, which means finding personal protective equipment for the staff at small clinics that don't have buying power in the strange market this pandemic has produced. It takes all the energy for that day, and between are writing days.

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    2. BTW you can friend me on Facebook. I'm kind of an addict.

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  20. My escapes haven’t changed any. Books and TV. If I’m not reading I’m watching something on TV. The weather is too hot and humid to do much outside although I will prune or weed as the urge arises.

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