Holiday greetings and an update

It's Christmas Eve, and, regarding "The Cielo" there are a lot of things to be thankful for. More than a year after publication sales continue to be good and a new ediition will be out early next year. The text won't be changed, but the back cover will be updated and at least one of the awards will be listed. i'm excited about that.
And the connections with old friends continue to be made through the book. At a bookstore in Appleton, where I was doing a signing, the clerk at the store turned out to be the daughter of a longtime colleague at the Journal and it was so good to talk to her about her mom. At a book club meeting in Waukesha I was surpised to look up -- a good half hour into the session -- and recognize a colleague on the Marquette faculty. This was the first real conversation we've had. A couple of days ago I heard from a member of my class at Marquette -- so many many years ago. She wrote from Hawaii, where she's been living and working ever since graduation, to tell me how much she liked the book. And today, the son of some dear friends, both gone now, wrote his annual Christmas message in which he went on and on about the book.
As I've said before, these new connections with old friends are some of the best things to come out of the book.