With the arrival of 2026, my life is a lot like driving. I concentrate on where I’m going but keep tabs on what’s behind. Specifically, this is about my writing.
Last year was a productive one that included publication of an audiobook, a middle grade book, an adult novel, and the eighth in my mystery series. Plus I was immersed in two WIPs, edited an anthology for friends, and ventured into writing screenplays for movies. Here’s the roundup.
PROFESSOR GROOVY AND OTHER STORIES: This is an audiobook I recorded in my son Nate Livingston’s sound studio. The book is a collection of four short stories published in 2016, in which Lenora Dias, her college hippie friends, and a notorious professor try to make sense of life during the sixties. It’s a prequel of sorts to the novel Peace, Love, and You Know What.
THE TWIN JINN AND THE ALCHEMY MACHINE: This is the second in the Twin Jinn Series for middle grade readers, in which the Jinn family lives in a small, rural town. Jute and Fina go to the local school, where their parents hope they will learn more about humans. Without their parents knowing, the twins create an alchemy machine that turns any metal into gold for a science fair project, which unfortunately brings unwanted attention.
THE SWANSON SHUFFLE: Two years out of college, Bia Fernandes leaves a dead-end job to work and live in a psychiatric halfway house, where she learns more than she expects from its ex-patients — just as the Watergate scandal in the U.S. comes to a head in 1974. Inspired by my own experience, I began this novel in 1999. I was about a hundred pages into it when my then-agent wasn’t interested in representing it. So, I went onto other books instead. But the story stayed with me. Over the years, I kept working on it, and in 2025, it went live.
FINDING THE SOURCE: Isabel Long’s eighth case begins during a chance encounter with a homeless man, who says he was 12 when he found his mother murdered in their home. Abby McKenzie was a well-liked seller of vintage books who owned a store in the hilltown of Dillard. One obstacle is that several of the suspects are dead, including an avid book collector, a former town official who stalked her, and the man who last saw her alive.
Okay, those are the books that went live. In 2024, when my first publisher closed, I taught myself how to format paperback and Kindle. Fortunately, I have the artistic skills of my son Ezra Livingston to create the covers you see above.
But I was busy with other books, including WRITING FROM THE CENTER, an anthology of prose, poetry, and art created by members of the memoir writing group at the Shelburne Senior Center. I only contributed a foreword, plus handled the editing and formatting. It deserves its own post, so stay tuned for that.
Then there are the WIPs that won’t be available until the future. They include a screenplay I am co-writing with a friend, who is the leader of this project. My lips are sealed for now although we are hopeful it will be made into an animated film. In a separate project, I am writing a screenplay for The Swanson Shuffle.
THE UNFORGIVING TOWN: This dark mystery is the sequel to my novel, The Sacred Dog. Al Kitchen is done serving time for killing a well-liked man in his town in a botched robbery. He was convicted of manslaughter, not murder, which meant he wasn’t locked away forever or died in prison like people wanted. After finishing the book this fall, I reached out to several publishers without success even though I feel it is a strong read. I may try a few more, but if I strike out, I will publish it myself.
THE TALKING TABLE: I have spent the past several months concentrating on this YA book I believe adults would also enjoy reading. The story is told by 15-year-old Vivien Winslow, who wants to be reunited with her father, a troubled man who became famous for the first and only book he published. The year is 1967. The settings are Boston and a fictional town in Massachusetts called Seaview. I expect to finish the first draft before the end of this month.
Looking ahead, I envision another productive year book-wise besides seeing the WIPS I just mentioned come to fruition. I plan to publish the third in the Twin Jinn Series — The Twin Jinn in the Land of Enchantment. In this book, the Jinn family moves to New Mexico, where I once lived. This book has been on hold in my computer for a while.
Regarding my mystery series, I do believe Isabel Long deserves another case to solve. An idea has been brewing. And depending on what happens publication-wise with The Talking Table, I may attempt a sequel. More audiobooks? Perhaps.
But, hey, who knows what else will inspire me in 2026.