As 2013 fades to 2014, it’s only natural to think about ending the old and beginning the new.  But is that what really happens?

Not in my book.  And I mean that both literally and figuratively.  I don’t see that we end and begin.  Life is a continuum.  What we do today is colored by what we did yesterday. We appreciate what’s in front of us all the more for what’s behind.  We are the sum of our parts.

Which brings me to the newest Barbara Delinsky book, my work-in-progress.

I’ve written the first half and will be heading down the home stretch as soon as the bubbly from New Year’s Eve goes flat.  I don’t have a title for it yet.  Well, actually, I have about twenty titles but can’t pick one, in part because I really really really like several and in part because my publisher may hate them all.  If so, they’ll come up with one we both like, and I’m good with that.  A title is a marketing tool.  I write the book, they market it.

So what’s the book about?  Here’s the opening of the proposal I gave my publisher.

A daughter’s chance at happiness might cost her mother everything…

Jamie MacAfee is ambitious – but being pitted against her own mother for a job they both want?  She hadn’t planned on that, any more than she’d planned on instant parenthood and an upended love life.  As her tidy world comes apart, she needs her mother more than ever.  But will Caroline be there for her if Jamie steals her dream?

Let me say, right off the bat, that my heart of hearts is with Jamie’s mother.  I adore Caroline MacAfee.  Having overcome a marriage that destroyed her self-esteem, she has rebuilt herself into a strong, smart, successful woman.  She is now fifty-six, not at all old by modern standards.  But it is old in a field that prizes a flawless face.  So Caroline is told that her daughter will be replacing her in the job she adores.

How would you feel if you were Caroline?  Or if Caroline were your mother?

This book is about old and new, age and beauty, classic and novel.  One of several backdrops to the story is home construction, as in renovating old houses and building new ones.  Caroline lives in a charming Victorian that exudes history, while Jamie’s condo is sleek, white, and new.  See where I’m headed?

Want to help?  I’m making a list of things in life that age well.  Wine is one example.  Others can be wood, leather, music, books.  What can you add to the list?

BTW, my favorites among those twenty titles are Home Plans,  Ageless, What Matters More, and What We Build.  What do you think?

I’ll finish this book by June, and it will be published as your summer escape in 2015.  I post sneak previews from time to time, so do check back here.  In the meanwhile, please know that I wish you a 2014 that is filled with warmth, happiness, and peace.