It’s been a roller coaster couple of weeks. As I was pounding toward the deadline for my third Zoe Chambers mystery, my mom, who has been having some health issues, had to be admitted to the hospital. Familiar (to me) terms like atrial tachycardia and atrial fibrillation floated around along with a new one: orthostatic hypotension. Basically this means her heartbeat was fast and irregular…and her blood pressure plummeted when she stood up. In the midst of runs to the hospital and conferences with doctors, I completed and turned in the manuscript—ON TIME. But then there was this little matter of the Writer’s Police Academy , something I’d been looking forward to for a year and had paid for months ago. I seriously contemplated staying home. But my darling hubby earned a boatload of brownie points by cancelling his own “guys’ weekend” and staying home to make sure Mom had a ride home when they discharged her and to keep an eye on her once she was home. My brother stepped up big...