Here we are again with newsletter time. Thanks again for signing up.
There are two major updates from my March newsletter.
I’ll start with my elderly father’s gripping medical journey. He’s doing better. He’ll never be back where he was, but he’s still with us. He’s also, finally, working with a physical therapist to regain some of the muscle tone he lost in the last year. Let me say now that if you aren’t exercising on a regular basis, start today. My father walked regularly and faithfully, but, sadly, walking isn’t enough. It’s a cardiovascular exercise, not one that develops flexibility and balance (like yoga or tai chi). It also doesn’t develop muscle tone, like strength and resistance training does. Do those push-ups faithfully and add some weights to your routine.
Bill does one hundred push-ups or more every day. He worked up from managing only ten a day. Yes, his upper body is definitely looking good, going along well with his excellent legs from daily long walks. I do them too, but not nearly as many.
Update number two is that we are NOT going to Gaithersburg for the 10th annual book festival on Saturday, 18 May 2019 as previously reported. We applied for the festival the day applications opened. I mailed in my check for our vendor space. They cashed the check promptly. I thought we were home-free. Gaithersburg, here we come. I’ve been sewing dozens and dozens of cloth grocery bags to be sure I had enough to hand out with book purchases.
Alas, at the end of March, they mailed us a refund and said, “No, not this year.” I have no idea why other than that they must have had hundreds of wonderful authors apply and, well, they don’t have space for everyone.
We’ll apply again next year, for the 11th annual book festival. We’ll have more titles, including more of our own fiction. That might make the difference. Who knows? If we don’t apply, we don’t get the chance to participate. Even though we aren’t going to Gaithersburg, if you’re in the area, come to the show and support all those other terrific writers. Here’s the link for more information: http://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/
Not going to Gaithersburg meant I had to fill that date in our calendar (Saturday, 18 May 2019). I applied immediately to the Hershey Art Show and Culture Fest and was accepted. We’re local, we did Culture Fest last year and had a great time. If you’re in the area, stop by our booth. Here’s the link: https://downtownhershey.com/listings/culturefest/ . Culture Fest has plenty of artisans (like us), live music, performances, food of every description, and it’s all in beautiful, downtown Hershey.
So those are our big changes from the last newsletter.
My last newsletter included a public service announcement and this newsletter does too.
We also found out this information the hard way.
Oldest Child had a job delivering pizza for several years with one of the national chains. The only question they asked was “do you have insurance.” Notice that phrase: “insurance.” That is, did he have insurance for his driving?
Well, yes, of course. You can’t drive without auto insurance. I mean you can, but it’s a huge risk and illegal to boot.
Oldest Child did well. He liked the work fine. He made money. Then one wintery day, a few years ago, he was making a delivery and his car slid on the ice. He was able to stop safely. The driver in back of him did not, nor did the next two drivers. Oldest Child was very, very lucky that he wasn’t badly hurt in the chain reaction. He was not at fault in any way. Even the attending police and ambulance people (all very experienced in dreadful weather) were slip-sliding around. All four cars involved were totaled.
At that point, he had to have another car, to keep working. It was when I was arranging insurance that we found out: your regular auto insurance policy does NOT cover any kind of commercial delivery services. If you or a member of your household delivers pizza, flowers, take-out food for anyone, or any other kind of commercial driving, you MUST have a commercial policy.
If your driving family member has an accident delivering pizza and the insurance company finds out, that policy gets canceled on the spot. You have no coverage. If you aren’t at fault in the accident, it’s a problem. If you are at fault in the accident, it’s a catastrophe. NO COVERAGE. Your family member (or you) are on the hook for every single cost incurred by the accident. No insurance, no help, no nothing.
I started asking questions. I got Oldest Child a commercial policy. The cheapest commercial policy for delivering pizza in our area was about $1500 for a rock bottom, minimum required by law, one-year plan. I had to pay upfront, in full, in cash, to get that price. Every other plan was more. I also had to go to a commercial insurance policy dealer as our regular company didn’t do commercial policies. Oldest Child had a normal driving record; i.e., nothing unusual such as the local cops knowing him on a first-name basis with points on his license to prove it.
I asked more questions. I quickly discovered that this little fact was only known by insurance people! No one I spoke to, other than an insurance lawyer, had heard of this. This included Oldest Child’s co-workers and managers at the pizza place (a national chain), all the sales reps at the car dealership, various service organization reps like AAA and the Boy Scouts, local legislators, and my local congress critters.
Everyone I talked to knew nothing. I told everyone and now I’m telling you.
What is apparently happening is the national pizza chains know that if they require commercial driving insurance policies, they won’t get workers. Thus, they only ask if the would-be driver has auto insurance. They don’t specify what kind. Based on my research, the vast majority of drivers (teen-aged and young adult males) don’t know. They don’t have any idea that an at-fault accident could ruin them financially. Medically too, since no coverage means no medical coverage for injuries.
I’ve complained to my congress critters on the subject. I’m sure I won’t get any action, but they know the topic exists, when previously, they didn’t.
And now you know: if someone in your circle delivers for a living, using their car, they better have a commercial insurance policy if they expect coverage in an accident. An accident incurred while delivering pizza on a home auto policy means instant cancellation and zero coverage. Don’t lie to your insurance company. If they find out, you’re on the hook for insurance fraud.
Since I know you’ll ask, Lyft and Uber do cover their drivers during the time they are on the job. National pizza chains do not.
Please feel free to pass this information on. I can’t stand the thought of some unfortunate pizza delivery guy taking in the shorts for an accident, thinking he’s got auto insurance when he really doesn’t.
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We’re currently gearing up for our first appearance at Malice Domestic. It’s a big, big conference and convention for mystery writers and fans, held annually in Bethesda, Md. We’re very excited. We’ll be at the show all day, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 3 – 5 May 2019. Here’s the link if you’d like to know more about Malice: http://malicedomestic.org/ .
On the book front, Bill expects (he’d better!) to have Volume 7 of the 223B Baker Street series finished by June. This will be “Jazz Age II 1925-1930” and will close out the series. The next book in our 223B series will be a compilation of the best stories from the entire collection, ranging from 1888 through 1930. That book should be quicker to put together since all the work is done, other than selecting the stories themselves.
He’s also working on a zombie novella (“Deadstock”) set in our own Hershey, and a time-travel comedy of errors involving that dashing man-about-town, Christopher Marlowe. Kit will meet New York and the city will never be the same. That one is titled “Man Out Of Time.”
I’m slaving away on “The White Elephant of Panschin.” I’m nearing the finish line and it will go to my two beta readers as soon as I type “the end.” If, however, you do not want to wait for formal publication, you can read the rough draft. I’m posting it, chapter by chapter, every Sunday at Archive Of Our Own and Wattpad. Here’s AO3’s link (dear daughter assures me this is the correct nomenclature): https://archiveofourown.org/works/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work_search%5Bquery%5D=odessa_moon
Wattpad’s link is next: https://www.wattpad.com/story/181751952-the-white-elephant-of-panschin
I’ll tell you all about the next novel in the series (The Vanished Pearls of Orlov) in the next newsletter. I’m starting it the day after I write “the end” for “The White Elephant of Panschin.”
I’m also working hard on “Cloth Grocery Bags.” I’ve gotten the first set of corrections back from my beta-sewers. They’ve been quite helpful in spotting all the changes and clarifications I need to make. Regrettably, no one highlighted the same changes. They all found different trouble spots. It will take me some time to work my way through the manuscript and fix everything. I can’t provide a date for publication other than late summer to early fall.
So that’s where we’re at. We’re working, everyone is reasonably healthy, and we’ve got a busy show schedule for the next few weeks. Visit our website to get updates on our schedule since we are always on the look-out for another venue to reach out to you, dear reader, in person.
Happy reading and get that commercial auto policy if you deliver pizza.