This summer was a time for serious reflection. I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, the right hand worse than the left. For a month I wore braces on both hands. Then on July 20th I had surgery on my right hand, which was then bandaged for ten days. I could not write, garden, hold a camera or do much of anything for three long months. Initially I accepted the situation. Be peaceful I told myself. There is a lesson in all this.

But as the days wore on and I could no longer take hot baths, open a jar, or lift anything, irritation set in, and restlessness, followed by a brief bout of depression. I thought, what if I could never use my hands again to write? What would I do? Writing means so very much to me. I can talk, I thought. I can go to high schools and talk to students about writing. I can teach writing in adult education programs. I can take classes in Ancient Civilizations, an old interest of mine, by correspondence

Luckily, my surgery was successful, and I am once again at the keyboard, but it was a useful lesson to examine my life in terms of adaptation and change. Life is, as Auntie Mame said,"a smorgasbord", from which I can choose a variety of foods or starve, and this awareness gives me hope and lifts my spirits.

When my publisher asked me to write a Christmas book, I thought it would be one of those short books authors write at Christmas, 30 or 50 pages at the most.

But, as so often happens for me in writing this series, the characters had their own ideas and before I knew it, the story line headed in a different direction than I had anticipated. The result was Christmas in Covington.

The story involves a young minister who joins Pastor Johnson and is assigned the task of cleaning out the church attic. The secret that Pastor Denny Ledbetter and Grace uncover in that attic turns many lives in Covington up side down. The resolution of the problem brings Amelia and Hannah into the picture and introduces new characters, and twists and turns that will keep you turning pages.

Christmas in Covington will be published in November of 2005 in trade paperback-that's the large size paperback, easy to hold, easy to read. I hope you will enjoy it. I certainly had fun writing it.

When I wrote The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love, I anticipated only one book about these women, and I proceeded to write a different story called The Three Mrs. Parkers for my second novel.

When our children were teenagers, we owned a farm in Salem in rural Oconee County, South Carolina, where we spent many wonderful summers, and I wanted to revisit the area in my mind and heart. This is a story of three generations of women who find their way past old hurts and losses to understanding, forgiveness and love.Though old grievances stand between the women, new challenges and grave danger cause them to forge bonds and a new path together.

The Three Mrs. Parkers will be published in trade paperback by Pocket Books in March, 2005, and I am thrilled. I hope that you will read and enjoy it as much as you have Grace, Hannah, Amelia and Covington.

I have noted that women are talking about creative living situations as they grow older, particularly with friends and other kindred spirits. Perhaps you have had some conversation with your friends about how you might like one day to share space or share land? Some women have been inspired directly by the Ladies books. For others, the idea has sprung naturally from their own lives.

The fabulous Western North Carolina Woman magazine and I are co- sponsoring a survey on just that topic. We'd love it if you'd take a couple of minutes to let us know what you are thinking! Take our HOUSING FOR "WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE" Survey This is an anonymous survey-your privacy is assured!

email: jmedlicott@mindspring.com

web: http://www.joanmedlicott.com