My novels begin in different ways. Sometimes they are just vague thoughts that dance like wraiths in my head and heart for a while. Sometimes they come to me out of the blue like a giant mosaic, all laid out in copious detail. One such book came to me while I explored an abandoned island off the coast of Maine, its houses empty or gone, leaving only daisy-strewn, grass-carpeted cellar holes behind. I stood on one such foundation on a bright sunny day, and the thought came to me, what if this rock I am standing on gave way and I fell into this hole? What if I hit my head, then woke up to find a roof blocking out the sky and the century was in the past? I had such a great time writing that story and exploring the history buried in that old foundation. I hope one day that book will find its way into print because I loved that hero and heroine and I enjoyed the months I spent living in their story.

Whatever it Takes was born differently. My main character, Matt Steele, arrived in my head first, and he was struggling with a problem. But then I had to find a venue to put him into. Perhaps because it was a presidential election year, that became his world. The rest of characters came, one at a time, some because I needed them, some because they demanded to be included. And the story evolved as they argued with me, told me things I didn’t know, and interacted with each other. I created his wife Eve and thought I knew her story, but she surprised me by being very different than I’d first intended. There was a lot of research to be done this time as well because Matt’s issues were out of the past. More than thirty years in the past. But I love history and enjoy research so that was a pleasurable adventure. Researching the down and dirty of our political world wasn’t nearly as much fun, but along the way I found Thanh and then Annie. Ben and Megan, Murdock, TJ and so many more fun and interesting characters joined the cast, bringing their personalities and problems. Now that the final galleys have been checked and rechecked and the writing is done, I will miss them.

Sergeant Samuel Gray Davis, the hidden hero in this story died over thirty years ago and he was named after my grandson, Samuel John Taylor, who died seven years ago of SIDS at the age of five months. Samuel is dedicated to all the young men who went to fight in that war during my coming of age. He was inspired mostly by my brother, Scotty, who did come home, thank God, and a childhood friend who did not. Sam was a boy once, and you get to see some of the things that made up the man he became. Sam had a mom and a dad, family and friends, just as all the young men who have served our country from its beginning to the present day. A family to mourn his loss and treasure his memory and keep old photos to remember him by. My heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to all the young people who serve in our armed forces, protecting the freedoms so many take for granted and preserving the American Dream.

 

I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I have enjoyed the creation of it. Look for it  on Wings-Press.com or Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

My friend Vickie King was playing around with her computer at the end of a great ACRA meeting where we had a workshop on social networking, specifically Twitter. And suddenly, there in front of her was an email from the editor at Belle Bridge Books offering her a two book contract. She was in tears - the rest of us were whooping with glee. What a way to end a meeting! Congratulations Vickie... look for her Braddock Series beginning in September 2013.

The workshop was presented by Kellie Sharpe, aka Summer Stephens. I only wish I knew a fraction of the stuff she knows about social networking on the internet. Lots of great information Kellie. Thanks for sharing.

Right on time, at noon on the high tide, HMS Bounty arrived in St Augustine. I was so hoping to see her come in under sail, but that didn't happen for a couple reasons. One, she actually arrived six hours early and had to sit outside the harbor waiting for the tide and the schedule. Also, it's a small harbor with strong currents and she's a BIG ship! Our own pirate ship, the Black Raven, which is a pretty impressive ship suddenly seemed to shrink as the Bounty sailed past her. The Bridge of Lions was lined with folks to watch as Bounty navigated the, for her, narrow opening under the draw, but her captain and crew has battened all the spars down and she went through like a hot knife through butter.

I had to wait a few days before I could go aboard, but eventually the Coast Guard finished checking her out and folk were invited to visit.
  You can see how impressively big she is, totally dwarfing the Bridge of Lions just beyond her.

After a weekend of visitors, the crew and many of the local folk who helped sponsor her visit came to Taberna del Gallo to party. Since Sunday night is my regular night to volunteer there, I got to rub shoulders with captain and crew, pirates and corsairs and lots of other fun folk.

I'm still a little breathless and a lot astonished. A long time ago I discovered that talent and hard work weren't always enough to get a book published. But I kept writing and kept submitting and filing away rejections, then went on to the next project. I've had a couple great critique partners who offered their wisdom and encouragement, and my kids were my biggest cheerleaders. Everyone believed in me - even me! But even so, the email offering me a contract today took me by surprise. Even more outstanding is that they want to release it in June of this year. THIS YEAR! Amazing, awesome and so very satisfying. I read the entire contract, but I think I need to read it again when my head is not still in the clouds and get down to business. But in the mean time - I think I'll have another glass of wine! Thank you to everyone who had a part in getting me to this place in my life. Love you all.

The week began with an unusually ambitious agenda, so I made a list. I'm good with lists. I like lists. I especially like checking things off! The first thing I tackled was scraping and sanding the outdoor furniture, then getting two new coats of Helmsman urethane on everything. That was the first easy item on the list. Another relatively easy task was to check out the possibility of moving back into the larger storage unit I had before, and when the answer was yes, that morphed into filling out the paperwork and actually moving everything from one end of the facility to the other. But since I was at it, I put away my winter gear and got out my summer stuff which is a plus. I even found my Easter Basket - just in case the bunny decides to visit my place, and came across a photo of my brother and I when we were toddlers to add to my family gallery. Next up: Last week I bought two new bougainvillea plants and three hibiscus. They were still sitting on the deck in the plastic pots they came in so I took pity on them and transplanted them into bigger pots with some room for their roots to spread out. The weather was so nice this week, it was a great excuse to be out of doors. But eventually I managed to burn through all the "easy" tasks and had to sit myself down at the computer to deal with the more problematic ones.

My writer's chapter voted to set up a PayPal account and since I'm the treasurer, getting it done fell under my job description. Reading through the initial information, this seemed pretty easy so I dove into that one thinking maybe an hour or so. Three hours later, having spoken to two helpdesks and having to conference the president in so they could actually talk to me, that job was done. The gorgeous weather and the beach called and I scrambled out of here for a walk by the sea. Balancing the chapter checkbook and writing up the monthly report came next. Fortunately no problems popped up and that was dispatched in good time. Our Annual conference in the fall had four registrations already - a good sign, but I had to take time out to wrestle with WORD (which is NOT my favorite program) to start the attendee list. And all this time the really big job loomed and I did my best to ignore it, or subconsciously find excuses to put it off. Time for another walk on the beach??

TAXES! I get through January and February reassuring myself that I can't do them yet because the company I used to work for gets until March to spit out their limited partnership reports. But the K-1 came  last week, which is why taxes were on my to-do list this week. Not my favorite task as you might have guessed by the sheer volume of projects I put between me and the tax return. But Friday morning comes and I haven't even started. As I savored my morning cup of tea I decided I'd download Turbotax and that would fulfill my tax obligation for the week. Just download it, perhaps take a look at it, but I wouldn't actually DO the taxes until NEXT week! I am happy to say, once started, it was hard to decide where to stop. I got further and further into the thing and ended up opting to connect with my bank and brokerage and download all that information automatically! And as I said, one thing led to another and I am thankful and relieved to report that I just put the whole paper file away with all my previous year's tax returns. The return has been electronically filed. AND I DON'T OWE ANY TAXES!

And so my ambitious To-Do list has everything checked off. Isn't that fantastic?

Anyone who loves history, pageantry and just plain fun will love St Augustine. I've never been in a city that celebrates so often or with so much enjoyment. This past weekend was no different. St Patrick's Day is still a week away, but the festivities have begun. For two days there was a Celtic Festival going on at Francis Field with bagpipers, Irish dancers, musicians, Scottish games, and lots more - even haggis for the brave folks who'll try anything once. Saturday morning began with a parade through town, and I know now I should have taken a lot more photos because I remember seeing a lot of really fun stuff. Ever seen storm troopers in kilts?  Check this out!!
 
Last week St Augustine was visited by re-enactors from as far away as Ohio that I know of - perhaps further. They set up camp at the Fountain of Youth and represented a colony in the 1600s. On Saturday evening, we were treated to the re-enactment of Searle's Raid on St Augustine in 1668. Women were kidnapped from houses along St George Street as the raiders forced the defending Spaniards back until they retreated into their wood fort.

Just the week before that was the 493rd birthday of Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the founder of our nation's oldest city. That was celebrated by a parade down St George Street complete with courtiers, a 17th century pope, Big Head puppets and so many more.

Back in December we had British Watch night - honoring the 21 years of British rule in St Augustine and soon, we will have La Guardia de Noche (Spanish Watch night) complete with a military torchlight parade.


I fell in love with this city the very first time I visited and every week, month and year since I moved here has been filled with more reasons to love it. From our Spanish beginnings and the Native American and African (slave and free) influence to our present day, flavored along the way with Irish, Minorcan, Greek, Scots and British, there is so much diversity to celebrate and we celebrate it all with flair and pride.

One of the really fun activities I've gotten into since I moved to St Augustine is volunteering at the Colonial Spanish Quarter. I met Jenny, the tavern keeper, early on and spent a day polishing candle chimneys and lamp glass. Then I got sidetracked into working in the leather shop with Marko. The Spanish Quarter was peopled with over a dozen folk in colonial garb deeply invested in the history of Spanish St Augustine and passing their knowledge of leatherworking, sewing, cooking, blacksmithing, carpentry, black power guns and life in the 1700s to visitors. To the distress of many, including me, the city decided to close the Quarter to the general public last fall except on Market days (Second Saturday of each month.)  The tavern, however, remained open, and I was fortunate that Jenny welcomed me back to work there. It's a fantastic place to hang out, lit only by candlelight at night. Jenny, Josh and Bill, who are the official tavern keepers are fountains of knowledge about the tavern, Spanish St Augustine, and St Augustine in general. They are all great fun to work with and make even mundane chores like bussing tables and washing glasses enjoyable tasks. We meet folk from all over the country and even other countries who come in for a glass of the best Sangria in town, or for a mug of a local microbrew. Like all the volunteer activities I've done in my life, spending time at Taberna del Gallo turns out to give back far more than I give and I enjoy every minute. For a woman who loves history, it's fantastic that I get to step back in time and live the history I so enjoy reading about. Next best thing to time travel!!
 

It's valentines, day - when the florists sell lots of roses, chocolate is the ambrosia of the day and sweethearts everywhere celebrate their love. I started out feeling sorry for myself because I don't have a sweetheart to go out to dinner with, or cuddle with afterward. But then I stopped at the library and on my way back to the car I noticed a heart mowed into the lawn. A romantic groundskeeper - how cute. Then I got a card from an old friend. And email from new friends. My hairdresser greeted me with a wonderful smile when I arrived late and breathless for my appointment, and my dog greeted me with a madly wagging tail when I returned home. As I carried my lunch to my study to see what else awaited me in the way of friendly greetings, a tiny bright red picture frame with a heart shaped opening and the sweet little face of one of my granddaughters when she was two years old caught my eye. Suddenly it occurred to me just how rich in hearts I am. I have four grown children who couldn't be more wonderful no matter how hard they tried, and a step-son who's as much a part of my heart as the children I bore. They've blessed me with twelve grandchildren, each special and loving in their own way. My Dad is still with me, and he writes to me regularly. My sister and brother are distant in miles, but close in affection. And I've friends all over the world. Some close by, some on the far away, some new, some old, and all gifts bringing immeasurable blessings into my life. Life truly is good to me. Thank every one of you for being part of it.

Okay - time to get back to work and get this manuscript into shape. At a conference last fall, I won a critique from an editor of a well-known publishing house. It included a 15 minute phone call to discuss my project. While I would have loved to have her ask for the full manuscript (who wouldn't?) I got the next best thing. In her words, "The writing is strong, the characters come to life and I found the world engaging." She went on to discuss genres and the fact that while this story had a lot to recommend it, I needed to focus on a specific genre and aim my writing toward it. She had a lot of tips on where I could go with this effort, and she also wanted me to consider how it might be made into one of a three book series.  She ended by saying that if I wanted to resubmit this book when I had worked on the issues we discussed, she would be glad to look at it again. Words of supreme encouragement.

Now to get to work. On the book I was working on when she called, on the book we discussed, and on ideas for two more. That ought to keep me busy and out of trouble!

  There are books and reading material everywhere at my house. My library has floor to ceiling bookshelves stocked with hundreds of great books of all descriptions. I have a Kindle with 300 or so books on it and there are several more on my iPhone. I read every chance I get. Most of what I read is enjoyable or enlightening, but once in awhile a book comes along that touches me in a way most never come close to. On the Island, by Tracey Garvis-Graves, is one of those books. Her hero and heroine are so compellingly real and when they are faced with hardship and difficult decisions their courage and concern for each other grabs your heart. They not only grow as characters in a story, but they grew on me, the reader, until I couldn't help but cry with them, celebrate with them and feel a deep down connection. I started reading the book on my iPhone while I was waiting for an appointment. I picked it up again in between things, but last night, I took it to bed with me and couldn't put it down. I have not been so touched by a hero in a book in years. T.J. Callahan is an endearing young man who grows both in stature and character, mature beyond his years in so many ways, yet engagingly innocent and young. It was a pleasure to spend time with him and Anna. If you are looking for a great read, I urge you to find this book, available in ebook as well as paperback.

Description (From Smashwords)
"When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day.

T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends. .

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man."