A couple of years ago, when the family was in Vegas, I bought a group of tickets so fifteen or so of us could go see the Blue Man Group. In the warm up before the show, the announcer called out various members of the audience.  Judith Jance was singled out as having a headache. I guess buying that many tickets at once got someone’s attention, and the skit they built around it was hilarious.

This isn’t hilarious. I don’t have a headache today—I have a cold—a coughing, hacking, nose-blowing, eye-watering cold. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I did have my flu shot.  Bill has come down with it, too.  It’s bad enough that we’ve canceled this week’s workouts with our trainer and also, so far, this week’s steps.  I tried walking yesterday and was so shockingly out of breath that I stopped after only a couple of laps.

In other words, I’m sick.  So don’t expect me to be witty, or bright, or fun today.  I have a feeling all those things people expect to find in my blog on Friday mornings just won’t be there.  Being sick and being witty at the same time simply don’t compute.  So what I’m doing instead is passing along a nugget of writerly news.

I’m working on the next Joanna Brady book now, number 18.  I can tell you that very early on in this book Joanna has her baby.  When her son Dennis was born, she was pregnant for three books, and that was WAY too long.  So the new baby has a name, Eleanor Sage, and as of yesterday, so does the book. I had come up with what I thought was a brilliant title, and it was.  When I proposed it to my editor, however, I was told I that they are publishing another book with that same title in May.  So nope, back to the title-making drawing boards.

And here’s what I came up with–Field of Bones. I have it on good authority that the art department is already working on a cover design.

That means the deadline is actively ticking, so sick or not, I’d better get back to work.