Discovering Inspiration in the Midlife Recorder Series

When not working on short stories and the next books, I do enjoy reading. Generally I read at night before bed. Yes, it means that if the book is really good, I stay awake and read longer than I should. Most recently, that happened with a series recommended by one of my writing group. Now, our group does not like to read the same things. I love military sf, steampunk, fantasy, and cozy mysteries, too. The others are heavily into murder mysteries, or more mainstream fiction, and historicals. But they said to check out this cozy fantasy.

So I did.

Linzi Day’s Midlife Recorder series, what we came to call “that Gretna Green series”, is about a woman who discovers her dead end life was not what it should have been. She was not who she should have been. How many of us feel that way and get around to change ourselves and our lives? This series is inspiring!

Niki McKnight’s life has become complacent and dulled down by a terrible boss and a marriage that took her for a ride, and not the good kind. But when Niki receives notice of her Gran’s passing and must deal with the estate, she travels to Gretna Green in Scotland and her life changes.

I am not going to give away the whole plot, but the books resonated with us–the heavy-handed boss, and a life that at times has become a monotone of closeted feelings and lost hope.

But mostly, we want Niki’s new house. Dola.

Yep, we want her house. Dola the house is so much more than that AI type service. Dola is like your new personal assistant with feelings, a good mind, and thoughtful personality. She has a soul. Dola cares. When my writing group gathers, we all laugh when one of us just leans back with a sigh and says, “Dola, can you get me some tea and cookies?”

We all know that feeling of wanting/needing someone to help out. Of course the main character has some crazy things happen to her and even more bizarre responsibilities to figure out. To some extent we all have to deal with that in life. Then magic is tossed in and creates an unbelievable level of shenanigans both good and bad. Still, we can relate to Niki and her life.

These books are an indulgent way to watch a woman manage well, handle problems, form her base network, create her found family, and thrive. With help. No matter what strange things happen, no one should face a problem alone, or become so overwhelmed they cannot function. Niki creates her new life in a way those around her have never seen before, and it works. She uses her instincts and thinks it through. She defines her boundaries. When it falls flat, they all work to fix it. Fantasy aside, isn’t that the life we all want? We need a base of friends and family that keep us going and get us over the hurdles in life.

So read the series and think about applying it to your own life. Build the life you need. And don’t worry if it doesn’t look like what people expect. Be YOU.

Midlife Recorder Series, Book 1-6, Can be found here on Amazon. Also on Kindle Unlimited. The author has a 10 book series planned, and book 7 comes out October 30th. I am waiting patiently.

Linzi Day gave permission for me to write about her books in my newsletter, and in our discussions I found her to be an open and wonderful woman about the same age as me. We’re both doing what we truly love, writing, and she has truly inspired me in writing, and in business. Her author site is here: https://linziday.com/

As always, it’s reviews and word of mouth that can help a book gain readers and supports an author, so remember to leave a review, a comment, tell a friend, anything to help others find whatever good books you discover out there. Including mine!

Nan and I will discuss some holiday deals, and hope to get into some book fairs to sell soon. We’ll spread the word when we have concrete dates for you. Meanwhile, we get to design a table for our bookselling, so please please, what catches your eye at a bookfair? What cool thing has an author done that you, as a reader, think we should look into doing? I need a new business card, we’re already designing a new bookmark regarding the series instead of just Atahualpa’s Mummy, and I have boxes of books ready. I need to learn about QR codes and taking payments. Always something new to keep the brain moving whether you want to or not. We’ll know more next newsletter, and I hope some of you can stop by and say hello!

From the business of the last newsletter, I have not yet decided what to call the cat in my Sunset Lake series, but I am leaning heavily toward Master Luke, a name suggested by D Hoisington. Thank you! Hopefully by next newsletter, I will make the final decision, but this name suggests a cat with a certain look. That quiet stare could mean he’s using the Cat Force on you. Yeah, I can see it. I can hear the remarks and the cat in my head is liking it the more I edit this newsletter, lol. Or perhaps he’s just hunting for treats. Yes, characters in my head do have opinions about how I present them on the page.

Nan Sampson, my co-author, and I have been discussing her new wip series and how it extends The Harrogate Chronicles world. Boy, does she have some great plans! We even came up with more projects that could extend into the future of our shared world. Gah! I need more time in my day. But Kinzy and Trell, even Master Shabao, may have a more modern future in our alternate history. They are of Fae blood, so have very long lives. We’ll need to make up a bit of a timeline to track all this.

Oh! I can make a spreadsheet! Nan, why are you looking at me like that? Spreadsheets are wonderful things! I promise to only use, um, 6, okay, 3 colors, and oh, 4, no 5 columns, and … Dola, make me a historical timeline, please? Send Nan a copy of it to help with her new wip.