This month, being April and you know what they say about April showers, the topic for the Blog Hop is:  Have you noticed how weather is used in writing? How have you used weather in your writing? Drama? Mood? Revelation?

If you think about it, weather, both good and bad influences everything from the moment the sun peeks in your window in the morning until you take your pooch for a walk under a starlit sky. Rainy weather can set it’s own mood, either brooding or making you feel cozy curled up with a book inside. What about a romantic couple on the beach in the setting sun? Or dancing in the rain? How does the setting sun of a perfect summer day color that picture and how different in the rain.

I remember an episode on NCIS when Gibbs’ mentor and friend is shot and killed outside Gibbs’ house on a dark rainy night. There seemed to be a special poignance to Mike Franks having sacrificed his life laying face up in the wet street with rain on his face. And just think of all the romances that have been written around the trope of the hero and heroine becoming stranded together by a major snow storm.

Gloomy weather certainly adds mood to a mystery or even more to a horror story. Moonlight can add romance to any situation, but that same moonlight can heighten the ambiance of a vampire story. The events of 9/11 would have been horrific no matter what the weather, but somehow, the stark contrast of that brilliant blue sky backlighting the atrocity of commercial airliners flying deliberately into the twin towers made the made it seem worse. Consider the different feeling you get, first watching a weather forecaster telling you about the ravages of a hurricane from his broadcast station with the weather map at his back and then they cut to the reporter wearing a rain-soaked slicker, standing at a 60 degree angle against the buffeting gale, his or her hair blowing in their face while they struggle to be heard over the roar of waves or wind and rain. Weather sets a tone no matter if you are watching television, a movie, or reading a book.

In the first book in my series, the defining moment of the story is set against the backdrop of a hurricane. My heroine goes into labor and a huge hundred year old tree is uprooted making it impossible for rescue vehicles to get to her home and the hero is forced to face his worst fears and deliver her baby without even being able to contact help by phone. The sound of wind slapping the side of the house, phone lines down, power out all add to the ambiance and urgency of that scene. 

In the book I’m currently working on, on page one, my heroine is exploring the ruins on a long abandoned island off the coast of Maine on a beautiful sunny day. Flowers line the long abandoned fieldstone foundations, the water in the harbor is a startling blue and a light breeze plays with her hair and tugs at her clothing. Then she falls into that old cellar hole, hits her head and loses consciousness. When she wakes, it’s dark and cold and there’s a roof over her head. She has no idea where she is when the hero lets her out of his locked basement clutching a cudgel in one hand. The contrast makes her confusion even more complete, and the cold and dark adds an extra layer of menace to the scene that sunlight could not have imparted even when staring down an obviously angry man with a big stick.

I think, in all writing, weather can be another character, along with setting. It can add lightness or romance, or brooding or menace. It can add urgency or calm and can change or color just about any scene, even indoor ones. Stand your heroine at a window looking out: first on a moonlit garden, then rain slashing against the window, or jagged streaks of lightening lighting up the dark sky, maybe the sun is setting, its glory reflected in some body of water or fat snowflakes falling in utter silence covering everything she can see. Same woman, same window, but how different each scene is, and how differently it might affect what she is feeling and thinking.

I'm sure there are books and stories out there that never mention the weather, except perhaps when one of the characters is complaining about it, but I think including the weather adds immeasurably to the scene, the feeling, and the action.

Since this is a Blog Hop - why not hop on over and see how other authors use weather in their writing.
 
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Helena Fairfax  http://helenafairfax.com/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich bobrich18.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/oh-the-weather/
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com                      

What does April 15^th mean to you?

For my mother-in-law – it was the day her son was born. So in our family it was a reason to celebrate. But Cal’s been gone a while and there hasn’t been cake on the 15^th for far too many years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAL – I miss you.

For all Americans, the 15^th is TAX DAY! Most of us have managed to pull our taxes together and get them filed, after complaining and procrastinating for the last couple months. I hear groans of protest from those who owe a lot more than they thought they would. Not so many happy faces about refunds as there once was – probably because, like me, a lot of us have figured it out, that paying too much up front is like giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan. Some folk are still scrambling to meet tonight’s midnight deadline. And a few more will be filing for extensions. But for all of us, the 15^th of April is a day we can’t ignore.

All of New England celebrates Patriots Day and that often falls on the 15^th of April, too. Patriot’s Day is a celebration that marks the beginning of our country as we know it today – the day when folks finally decided enough was enough and told King George they would stand up and fight for their rights. A few brave men, some still boys, lined up on Lexington Green and faced down the mighty British Army and the Revolutionary War began. Schools are out and parades are in as New England remembers and celebrates how America began.

But for the people of Boston, April 15^th will forever have an even more poignant meaning. The Boston Marathon is a big event. As big as Patriots Day – the day it is traditionally run. It’s the oldest annual marathon in the world and ranks as the world’s most prestigious road racing event. Runners from all over the world compete and thousands line the twenty-six-mile race route from Hopkinton to downtown Boston where sidewalks are jammed with spectators who come to cheer the runners over the finish line.

Three years ago on this big race day, the finish line of this world-class event was the site of a horrific, terrifying, bombing that took four lives and injured 264 people. The appalling evil and malicious intent shocked not just Boston, but the entire country. Not since 9/11 had we witnessed this kind of carnage on our own soil. An 8 year old boy, a child with a smiling face and a whole future head of him, a student from China, a young woman in her prime and an officer of the law all lost their lives. Sixteen children and adults lost their legs. Everyone was traumatized. We may never know the whole story behind why the Tsarnaev brothers chose terrorism against a country that had offered them asylum and opportunity, but if they were aiming to demoralize the American people, the result was just the opposite. Boston Strong became a catch phrase with a lot of punch. Photos were seen around the world of ordinary citizens leaping toward the carnage to do whatever they could to help save lives. Every event in Boston’s busy calendar became another little triumph over evil. Acts of heroism and the courageous determination of the survivors inspires us all.

April 15^th will go down in history along with December 7^th and September 11^th. Another day when the innocence of America was torn asunder. Another event from which we rose stronger and more united than ever. Pearl Harbor, the Twin Towers, The Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, and now Boston and its Annual Marathon have all become icons of how America can triumph over evil and come out stronger.  

What does April 15^th mean to you? (Please leave comments below.)

   Have you ever read a book or listened to one that so completely drew you in that you felt like you were living it? Well, that's what ACT OF VALOR did for me.

Every once in awhile, a book comes along that you want to share with the whole world for one reason or another. Until Tuesday is that kind of book.

UNTIL TUESDAY – by Former Captain Luis Carlos Montalván with Bret Witter

A highly decorated seventeen-year veteran returned from his second tour of Iraq with serious physical wounds that ended the career he had trained so hard for and had poured so much of himself into, heart, soul and body. But even more crippling was the post traumatic stress disorder that even former Captain Luis Carlos Montalván and those he loved and trusted most didn’t fully understand or accept. Simply coping with a short trip to the corner deli to purchase a sandwich was a journey filled with landmines that threatened to bury him in a morass of migraine pain and overwhelming paranoia.  Navigating the tortuous labyrinth to obtain treatment through the VA was a struggle on every level. The trip to get to the VA or to school on public transportation was often more than this wounded soldier could manage. Life and all hope for the future seemed pretty bleak for Captain Montalván.  Until Tuesday.

Until Tuesday, a dog, bred for service work, but broken himself by circumstance, came into Luis Montalván’s life. Until Tuesday taught this broken warrior how to trust, how to cope and to have faith in himself and the future. Until Montalván found the healing power of a relationship with a very special dog.

In the last few decades, our military and medical fields have begun to accept the insidious and debilitating realities of PTSD and seek remedies, but it is fairly recently that the amazing healing power of a properly trained service dog has come on the scene.  There is still an enormous amount of work to be done in educating, not just the medical field and the military, but the general public. Beyond being a fantastic read and a heartwarming story, UNTIL TUESDAY should be required reading for every American until we, as a society, understand the cost our young men and women will pay when we send them into harm’s way, and until acceptance of these warriors and the dogs that are saving their lives is universal.  

UNTIL TUESDAY is a courageously honest account of one man’s struggle with a disability most of us will never have to face and few understand.  It is also the heartwarming story how the love between a broken warrior and a disillusioned canine healed them both. Read this book and the next time you see what appears to be a healthy, robust young man or woman escorted by a canine wearing a service vest, you will have a far better appreciation for the struggles that person is living with every day of their life.

God bless the men and women who have given so much and suffer unspeakably and BRAVO for the growing numbers of special people who understand the difference a canine can make.  People like Montalván’s Lu Picard, founder and director of Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities (ECAD), K9s for Warriors and others.

Until Tuesday was part of the inspiration for book two in my Camerons of Tide's Way series, LOVING MEG. Meg, like Capt. Montalván, has returned from a year in a war zone. She is physically whole, but her soul has suffered. She's coping with survivor's guilt and trying to find her way to fit back into her civilian life and feeling like no one, not even her loving husband, can fully understand. Then she meets Kip. Another survivor grieving for a lost partner, Kip worms his way into Meg's heart and teaches her to trust him. Available at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play. All royalties for this book are donated to the K9s For Warriors program.

This Month's Round Robin Blog Hop Topic: Secondary characters have many functions in stories. Have you ever had a secondary character surprise you in some way? How? How about in other author's books that you've read? Do you have a favorite secondary character in either your own work or in books you have read?

                                                 
Secondary characters are important in so many ways. Among other things, they can add comic relief or get away with saying things that need to be said but the main characters can’t think them. Secondary characters provide depth to the story and to the main characters depending on the way the main characters react to them or rely on them. Years ago, my dad always watched Perry Mason (the original Perry Mason series) and he always marveled at how clever Perry was to ferret out the truth of who done it in spite of Lt. Tragg’s and Hamilton Burger’s assurance that they had the bad guy. But where would Perry have been without Paul Drake? Paul was the one who always came through with that illusive bit of information Perry needed to prove his client innocent. To me, Perry Mason would not have been the same character without his faithful sidekick Drake, or Della Street, the woman who always had his back.

In a newer series of novels, Murder on Edisto and Edisto Jinx by C. Hope Clark has included a whole cast of colorful characters, including Sophie the Psychic, who give depth not just to the story and the setting, but also are foils to her main character, Callie Morgan. And what would the movie Braveheart have been without the Mad Irishman, Stephen who claimed ownership of the whole Island of Ireland and a direct line to God?

Years ago, I read a book where the hero was an author who argued constantly with his main character. He, the author hero, wanted one thing and his hero character wanted something else. The author character would put his hero a heartbeat away from bedding the woman he desperately desired, then yank the rug out from under him and the would be seducer would scream in frustration. I often wonder how often both of these characters surprised the woman who wrote the novel.

In one of my historical novels, I gave my hero a sidekick who was his closest friend and business partner. But somewhere along the line the friend fell in love with the heroine meant for my main character. My first thought was, “Houston, we have a problem!” That was not what he’d been put into the story to do. But then I decided to just go with it and see where it led. By the end of the book, when the hero and heroine had overcome all their conflicts, it was clear that my lovesick secondary guy needed his own love interest, and of course, his own story, which I began writing at once. In the 4^th book of my current series, which will be out this July, I have a secondary character who I thought I knew really well, but she did something I had never anticipated. And even then, once I accepted that twist, she did another about face. She was a teenager and teenagers are known to be filled with drama and angst, but still, I was surprised.

In considering the question of secondary characters who might surprise their authors, I wondered if those surprises come because the author is what we call a “Pantser”. A Plotter carefully outlines their books before they start writing so perhaps they never have surprises. But I write character driven stories by the seat of my pants. I’m a Pantser. I create my characters with detailed backstories. I interview my characters and ask difficult questions about how they feel about things before I begin to write. Then I just plop them into the situation I’ve set up for them and let them react. Maybe that’s why my characters so often surprise me.

But here are a few other authors willing to share their thoughts on secondary characters and surprises. Check them out. 

Anne Stenhouse 
Beverley Bateman
Judith Copek
Connie Vines
Victoria Chatham
Helena Fairfax 
Marci Baun 
Rachael Kosinski
Hollie Glover
Dr. Bob Rich

Rhobin Courtright

Fiona McGier 

Coming Saturday - Blog Hop - Surprising Secondary Characters

Tired of today’s partisan bickering already? Escape into THE CANDIDATE it’s a campaign rollercoaster you’ll love. In one reviewer's words: "reminiscent of John Grisham."

It’s down to the last two months in a neck-and-neck presidential election race. Matt Steele is trying to run a clean and honest campaign, while not alienating his party base with details of the harsh economic realities he knows he will have to embrace if he wants to restore the American dream. While campaigning, he is slipped an old snapshot by an Amerasian immigrant who claims to be the son of Matt’s closest friend who was killed in Vietnam. Matt’s acceptance of this man and his claim erupts into allegations that the young man is Matt’s illegitimate son, something neither Matt nor his adversaries believe. But the photograph also triggers buried memories, and old guilt about the woman in the picture and the promises Matt made to her after his friend was killed. Rolly Miller, a charismatic man with a reputation for turning his state around is ahead in the polls. He wants to maintain his public image as a grieving widower and keep his long time lover a secret until after he has won the election. Blair Cabot is an outsider who is determined to bury his opponents whatever it takes, including arm-twisting, blackmail, and lies. But Cabot’s past includes some very shady shipping deals and three men who may have died to keep them quiet.

How will the candidates manage to keep their pasts buried as November approaches and the margins in the polls get even narrower? Or will all the ugly secrets get bared and change the outcome of the election?

For Matt Steele, the photo shoved at him during a rally, took him off guard, jerking him back to a time he’d done everything to forget, to emotions he never wanted to relive. In the midst of this hotly contested race for the White House, the photo and the man who brought it to him will challenge everything Matt thought he knew about himself.

Rolly is a decent guy just trying to get past the election before he comes clean about his personal life, but when one of his opponents gets nasty, his lover launches a Twitter campaign filled with half truths and innuendo to bring the other candidate down. The outcome is anyone’s guess, or perhaps one man’s worst nightmare coming true.

Get your copy: On Kindle   or Nook  http://bit.ly/1QwuYel or Kobo

Don't miss my Facebook Launch party on Wed March 9th 7:00-10:00 EST - FACEBOOK LAUNCH PARTY CELEBRATION

Excerpt:

Twitter: POLBRAT: Col Cabot – What’s w arms smuggling? Isn’t that treason?

TJ barged into Blair Cabot’s private office without knocking. “Who’s Colonel Cabot?”

“Colonel Cabot?” Blair glanced up, a blank look of incomprehension on his face.

“This Colonel Cabot!” TJ slapped a sheaf of computer printouts on Blair’s desk.

Blair shuffled through them, then looked up. His brow still furrowed in confusion. “I don’t know any Colonel Cabot.”

“Well, he appears to be connected with Blair International. And it’s being suggested that he killed your once-upon-a-time chief operating officer. That the death wasn’t a suicide as determined at the time, and that it was a cover-up for some kind of shady arms shipments.”

Blair went suddenly ashen, and TJ felt the shock of that involuntary admission clear down to his toes. He’d been so sure this whole Twitter thing had been a hoax.

“There are no colonels connected with Cabot Industries. And Bill Candace did commit suicide. Blair stood, clearly pulling himself together and trying to get a handle on things.

“Then who the hell are they referring to?”

My mom changed her address to heaven eight years ago this week. In some ways it seems impossible it’s been that long since the day I held her hand and heard her draw her last breath is still so vivid in my mind. But then I think on all the things she’s missed. Among other things, my mom loved babies and there have been five new great grandchildren she would have loved to meet and cuddle. Our annual family vacations at the lake, holidays, weddings, graduations and family celebrations of all sorts. However much my mom has missed, though, we’ve missed her more.

My mom had the biggest heart of anyone I know and she shared her love with everyone her life touched. When I was growing up, she seemed to worry about everything and it was frustrating at times, but with age and motherhood, I’ve discovered that worry is part of caring. It’s easy not to worry when you don’t care so much, and my mother cared fiercely about all the important people and things in her life.

But as the years pass and the stinging loss fades to longing, it’s the memories of her that stay bright and remind me of all the things she brought into our lives.

My dad called her his cutie. In today’s world many women would find that offensive, but to my mother it was an endearment she treasured. And it was part of her personality. Even in her last years in the assisted living home, the caregivers often told her she was cute. (She was barely five feet tall by then.) She scoffed at the notion and told them she wasn’t cute, she was old. But I think she was still touched by the appellation.

As I look back over all the years, it’s a kaleidoscope of memories jumbled into one brilliant, beautiful pattern: the hours she spent sewing tiny, elaborate clothes for my favorite 6 inch doll, the abandoned baby squirrel she nursed until it grew strong enough to become a pet, the lily of the valley she would tuck into a tiny basket to leave on her mother’s door on May Day, her encouragement when I was down, her joy when I succeeded. We still laugh over the mosquito she rescued from freezing to death in the refrigerator and her refusal to let us squash it while it was still immobile with cold. And it’s even easy now to laugh at the way she would end an argument she was losing, by shutting her eyes so she could no longer read your lips. (She was completely deaf for the last 50 years of her life.)

                 Mom, Scotty & Me                      My Grammy, Me, my son Alex and Mom

Toward the end of her life, she began to horde and hide M&Ms and after she went into assisted living we found all her stashes in the most unlikely places. I think of her every time I find something in my own home that I tucked away and then forgot about. I also think about her when I’m folding clothes and realize how many of my garments are blue. My mom loved blue, pretty much to the exclusion of wearing any other color and I still chuckle about the day we were moving her into her new room at the assisted living facility and my daughter-in-law, who was hanging clothes in the closet held up a pink flowered blouse and began singing the Sesame Street song One of these things is not like the other.

We all have our favorite memories of my mom and we often share them when we get together at family affairs. But the most poignant and heartwarming of all the memories I hold in my heart is that of her smile. She smiled, I’m sure, at my first steps and the first time I called her Mama. She smiled, I know, at my graduation and my wedding and all the triumphs and joys of my life. But near the end of her life, when Alzheimer’s had taken so much away from her, even though she no longer remembered exactly who I was, her smile when I walked into her presence would light up an entire auditorium. She still knew that I was an important part of her life and she was happy that I'd come. That smile still wraps itself around my heart and keeps her close.

I love you mom. And I miss you, always.

Evelyn Woodd Stark Parker  December 3, 1922 – February 19, 2008

In the spirit of Valentines Day, this month’s Blog Hop asks: Why do you think 'bad' boys are so popular as heroes and 'bad' girls so often reviled? In real life, can those labeled bad change (certainly 'bad' is open to interpretation), or are such fictional romances misleading?

I think there are a couple main reasons why the bad-boy hero works in romances if not in the real world. One of the appealing things is the idea that the love of a woman can turn the life of a bad boy around. Perhaps we see a hurt little boy inside desperately trying to convince the world he’s tough and can’t be hurt. In real life the love of a good woman is often not enough to turn a bad boy away from a life of misbehavior and recklessness. However hard a woman tries, she might never pierce the protective shell she has convinced herself he’s built around his heart, and thus transform him. But the desire and belief that her love can make the difference still holds out promise both in stories and in real life.

Another thing most women want, although some will never admit it, is adventure. Maybe even a bit of naughty adventure. Sometimes adventure to the point of living dangerously. And what could be more dangerous than to fall in love with a man who has a cocky disregard for societal convention and a reputation for wildness. Somehow there is more sexy, edgy appeal in a wild ride behind a man on a barely broken stallion, a rumbling Harley that breaks all the speed limits or on the tossing deck of a pirate ship than could ever be found in a classy town car or a Carnival cruise ship. I’m not saying that there can’t be a steamy and thoroughly satisfying love scene in the back of that town car or on the starlit deck of a cruise ship, but the heart-pounding excitement of the stallion, or the motorcycle adds danger to the same love scene, and therefore more adventure. That’s what the bad boy brings to the romance table. It’s the difference between being kissed breathless in the middle of the town square where the whole world can see in varying degrees of shock and finding a socially respectable time and place.

As for the bad girl not being an acceptable heroine – it’s the double standard that prevails everywhere. Two guys can stagger down the street stinking drunk and singing the latest hit off key and they’re just being boys. Two women do so, and there aren’t too many people who find it cute or even remotely acceptable. Guys might enjoy a wild senseless fling with a woman who loves being naughty, but they don’t marry them and most romance writers instinctively know that and don’t push those boundaries.

Are romance novels unrealistic? Of course they are. But that’s why we read them. Some of us are fortunate to find and marry our soul mates. Some of us have good and satisfying love lives and marriages. Most of us have memories of the boys and men we loved and lost. But let’s face it most of those stories, if written into books would make for some pretty dull reading. We want the excitement. We want to fall in love with both our heroes, bad boy or otherwise, and our heroines. We want to watch them struggle to overcome the conflicts that keep them apart and become better for the struggle. And we want our happy ever after. Again and again. That’s what romance fiction is all about.

See that these authors think about the Bad Boy Hero:

Helena Fairfax  http://helenafairfax.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/       

Many years ago, I had a discussion with my father about whether a baby is a miracle or not. He maintained that they were not because miracles were rare and babies are born every day. I argued that an infant is a miracle because of all the things that have to happen just right for an embryo to become such an amazing creation. From just a single tiny egg and an even tinier sperm, comes this intricate miniature human being. Their senses are all functioning even if they haven’t learned how to process what they see and hear – they do know what Mommy smells like and they know her heartbeat. And did you know that a fetus even has their own distinct fingerprints well before they are born? How can anyone not consider that a miracle?

Even if that tiny perfect human being doesn’t seem like a miracle, just think about the potential. Consider the mind-boggling number of things this little person will learn in just one year – how to smile, to laugh, the sound of their father’s voice or a sister’s giggles. How to put things in their mouth, how to crawl and even perhaps to walk. How to say Mama and Dada and sometimes how to sign what they can’t yet say. They’ll discover what marvelous things their own hands are and how to explore their world with every sense they have. In the words of my granddaughter, their world expands from ‘sleeping, eating and pooping’ to that of a little person on a mission, bustling about his world learning what he likes and dislikes, what sunshine feels like and rain, grass under his feet and snowflakes on his nose. How to hold a crayon and a fork and open supposedly childproof containers. And that’s just the first year. From there he or she can grow up to be anything: a waitress, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, a scientist or a poet or even a leader of nations.

But despite the outcome of the debate between my dad and me, or the wider world either, I know I have another new miracle in my family. Nicholas Philip, all nine pounds two ounces of him arrived on time and healthy. He’s grandbaby number fifteen for me. And every time, in spite of having had four children of my own, I am amazed all over again at how tiny and perfect a newborn is. I marvel at those tiny fingers and toes, the big adorable eyes, the little bowed mouths. I love the little sounds they make when they sleep and I especially love they way they smell.

Every one of my babies and grandbabies have created memories that are special and different, but one thing that never changes is how wonderful it is to cuddle a sleeping baby against your chest. Even in the middle of the night, or perhaps especially in the middle of the night when all the world is sleeping and the soft cover of darkness surrounds you, curled up in a rocking chair with a sleeping infant cuddled against your shoulder is one of the sweetest things in the world. I love those moments and cherish them.

So, welcome to the world Baby Nicholas. You are a special miracle and I love you.

January 2016 – Round Robin Blog Hop topic - What are one (or two) writing projects you want to accomplish this year? What will be any obstacles you might encounter?

The first part of this month’s topic is harder to answer than the second because I have far more than one or two projects I want to accomplish. Should I tell you about the idea that’s been hibernating in my brain for some years waiting for me to get around to writing it? Or should I discuss the book written long ago that I absolutely love the idea of, but know it needs a lot of work that I’d like to revisit. Or a new novella to go with my series? Or the final edits for book 4 in my Tide’s Way series? Or a short story here and there? I want to accomplish ALL of these.

But since everyone loves a man in a kilt, I think I’ll share a little about The Piper, which is the story that’s been waiting patiently for me to write. Years ago when I was doing research for a different story I spent several days in a College library, comfortably ensconced at one of their big old oak desks with a pile of books around me. I was sitting there thinking how awesome it would be if I could read an old journal written by a man in the time period and place I was researching. From that random thought came the premise for my story.

The story is of an author who for one reason or another sets out to write a book about a legend, and in the process falls in love with a man from a bygone era. The Piper was a soldier with a Scottish regiment who bravely played the bagpipes to hearten his comrades, putting himself in harm’s way with no thought to his own safety. I know my ending, but I’m going to keep that a secret so once it’s written, perhaps you’ll want to buy it. A few days ago, my brainstorming group, the Sandy Scribblers, came together for our monthly meeting and I shared the bare bones and random ideas I’d mulled over for years. Lots of great new possibilities were explored, possible endings, possible reasons for the book this author was writing, intertwined relationships and totems, and how to pull off a love-affair that spanned more than a hundred years. So, now I’m really excited to write this story.

I will get the edits for Book 4 in the Tide’s Way done and I might complete the novella for that series. I know I’ll write more short stories which I offer my readers for free, either on Amazon and B&N or on my own website. But the biggest monkey wrenches in my writing plans are things that take me away from my library (my study) for weeks at a time. Even though my laptop goes with me, family comes first and not a lot of serious work gets done. I’ve already traveled twice this winter and in less than two weeks I fly north again to welcome my fifteenth grandchild. A mere month later I will again be in the air, this time to attend the confirmation of another grandchild and about 7 weeks after that yet another granddaughter is having her first holy communion. All important events Grammy must attend. There will also be another christening. (Thank heavens my grandson won’t graduate from college until 2017.) And that’s just this spring. Who knows what summer and fall will bring.

The reason these interruptions are truly obstacles is that as an author, I write best when I am totally emotionally connected with my characters and the events in their lives. Being with family divides that emotional connection and makes it harder to get my head back in the game when I get back to my writing. I often have to go back and re-read all or some of what I’ve already written to get myself immersed again and the muse starts cooking. Maybe if I were a plotter it would be different. I’d have a detailed outline I could follow and just pick up where I left off. But I’m a pantser and I write character driven stories, which means being IN my characters’ heads and hearts, living the events with them.

Same is true for me while writing a book.

Check out these other authors – see what they have planned for 2016.

Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.com/2016/01/23/writers-to-do-list-for-the-new-year/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Bob Rich  http://wp.me/p3Xihq-Bm
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Hollie Glover http://www.hollieglover.co.uk
Helena Fairfax  http://helenafairfax.com/2016/01/23/setting-goals-my-writing-projects-for-2016-and-some-advice-required/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/