Footprints

After months of waiting, we finally got our first snow here in Virginia. It was only an inch or two, but it was enough for the kids to want to bundle up, grab their hats, scarves and gloves and head outside to play in the white, wintery weather. My ten-year-old daughter took Luke, my four-year-old son, out to play while I tended to some things inside including putting the kettle on so that I would be ready with hot chocolate when my two youngest decided they'd had enough.

Not an hour after they had come inside, Luke decided that he wanted to go out again. This time I went out with him. I wanted to take some pancakes that I had made over to my mother-in-law's house next door so that was as good of an excuse as any to go out. While I visited with Mom for a few minutes, Luke happily played outside. He then helped me clear Mom's driveway and sidewalk even though he wasn't happy that we were clearing away the footprints he had made in the process.

I assured him that he had made plenty of footprints in the snow, and that he would be able to make plenty more. Later that afternoon, his sister took him out again, and they moved to the pristine snow in the backyard so they could make more footprints.

Last night when I went out to take the garbage to the curb, the road was a little icy so I walked through the snow to Mom's house to check on her and take out her trash. When I was walking home I finally slowed down long enough to really look at Mom's front lawn and the footprints that were streaked across it. Dozens of trails led from my house to Mom's house and back again. More were streaked across our adjoining back yards. I had to smile. Those tracks might not mean much to someone passing by, but to me they reminded me of what's really important: family.

Behind the scenes at Inauguration Day

We’re only hours away from the inauguration of our next president. Millions have come to Washington, DC and the areas surrounding the capital to see this historic event. People are talking about the high cost of the festivities, the historic significance of our first African-American president being sworn into office, and the record crowds.

Personally, living in the shadows of Washington, DC, I’m staying away from the city. And my heart goes out to those who have to be there. Several of my friends and acquaintances moved into their offices over the weekend, sleeping bags in tow, in preparation for the festivities. And I know they aren’t alone.

I’m talking about the FBI, Secret Service, law enforcement officers, and the many other individuals who are required to report to work on Inauguration Day, not only because that’s part of their job, but because their sense of responsibility is so great. What many don’t realize is that while the news may touch on the fact that there aren’t any hotel rooms to be had within forty (or more) miles of Washington, many members of these protective agencies are without a place to stay.

The road closures in the area, the expected high volume on the subway, and the lack of hotel rooms left many without any other choice but to go into work on Sunday night and not come home until Wednesday after the inaugural events have concluded. After all, these are people who are willing to throw themselves in front of a bullet to protect our new president. They aren’t about to take a chance of not making it to work on time.

I imagine President-elect Obama is only beginning to understand how truly great this country is, and how privileged he is to have such dedicated men and women working for him to ensure his safety and the safety of his family.

New release date

I know I've been telling everyone that my next book, Lockdown, is coming out in February. Today I found out that it's been pushed back a month and the new release date is March. My editor was very apologetic, but I think I'm the one person who isn't really going to notice. After all, I've already read the book. :) With that said, I really am excited to see Lockdown in print and have a copy in my hot little hands.

Every so often, I start writing and I am absolutely stunned when several weeks later, I have this manuscript on my desk that I can't quite figure out how it came to be. Lockdown was one of those books.

I can still remember the day I walked away from the television and started writing Lockdown. It was April 17, 2007, the day after the Virginia Tech shootings. The television was still on in the family room as other family members watched and listened. All of the people that we knew at Tech were safe, but our hearts broke for the families of those who hadn't been so lucky. I remember having a similiar reaction after the Columbine shooting. I wanted to watch the television to see what had caused this horrible event to happen, but at the same time I couldn't believe what I was watching.

Lockdown really was my therapy, my way of learning how I deal with those kinds of senseless tragedies. What I found is that through it all, there is always hope for a better day tomorrow.

Missing Kathleen

I received word last week that one of my on-line friends was missing. My first thought was that she was simply not answering e-mails or hadn't been communicating with anyone. Then I found out it was far more serious than that. Sheila "Kathleen" McBroom was really missing. Kathleen lives in Anchorage, Alaska and apparently never arrived for work on Monday. A few days later her truck was discovered, her wallet and cell phone still inside.

So the question remains, where is Kathleen? Her family has been frantic with worry, and I can't even imagine what they must be going through right now. Nothing about her disappearance seems to make sense. She had been looking forward to one of her daughters coming home for a visit and she seemed excited about what lies ahead for her.

Kathleen is such a positive, vibrant person that everyone who communicates with her has come to love her. Kathleen always has something positive to say about everyone and has always encouraged her friends in all of their endeavors. Now all of those friends are praying for her. We are praying for her safe return, and we are especially praying for her family in this difficult time. Hopefully they know that they aren't alone. We are all missing Kathleen.

Lockdown

Look what I found! I decided to check my publisher's website today to make sure my new book was listed on their site. Lo and behold, not only was my new book, Royal Target, listed there, but so was my next book. Lockdown isn't even scheduled to come out until February 2009, so I never dreamed that the cover image would already be available on the internet.

I did know that the cover was done, but I hadn't yet seen a copy until I found it on Covenant's website.

Oddly enough, I spent the day working on another book, one that spins off of this one and Freefall.

I'm having to remind myself that it takes a great deal of discipline to write novels. I know that I will ultimately spend hours at the computer and that if I'm lucky, the story will take on a life of its own. I hope and pray that will happen, while dreading that possibility at the same time. I know that if a story is really going to work, it has to find its own life. The problem is that when that happens, I find myself putting everything else on hold so I can stay at my computer and find out how the story ends.

Seeing a cover image like this one, or anticipating my author copies arriving in the mail for Royal Target, reinforces the fact that all of the hard work is worth it. Now I just have to keep myself at my desk enough hours of the day so that I can get to the good part, whatever that might be.

A new project

I signed up for Tristi Pinkston's Book In a Month Challenge...again... and I'm determined to succeed this time. I have done it before, written a book in a month. In fact, in one particularly productive spring, I wrote three books in three months. I did a complete rewrite of The Deep End in March 2006. The next month, in April 2006, I wrote Royal Target, which will hit the bookstores any day. The following month, I spent hours at the computer only to have Freefall (Feb. 2008) magically appear on my desk.

I look back at that particular spring and I'm amazed that three completed manuscripts were created in that short period of time. I also keep wondering what I have to do to recreate the magic that happened in those few months. I remember getting up early each morning, beginning my day at the computer around 5:30 or 6:00AM. I wrote for an hour or two, taking many breaks to get my kids off to seminary and three different schools. My son was taking naps at the time and he went down for a three-hour-nap each day. He was good-natured enough that he often played for an hour before falling asleep and let me rob another hour of writing time in the afternoons.

Although the days of my son napping are long gone, I have resolved to wake up early again and try to recapture that quiet time before my house comes to life...complete with sound effects. It amazes me how much more productive I feel when I get up that extra hour or so earlier and have some time to myself doing something I truly enjoy. Now if I can just find that magic again and hope my alarm clock and I can get along for a whole month.

I'm done! (kind of)

No, I haven't finished writing another book. I haven't even finished editing another book. Instead, I finally finished with my mother-in-law's basement. My husband and I moved her into the house next door in July (yes, this is a good thing!) and immediately started finishing off her basement to give her more space for the things she loves, specifically her crafts and sewing. Knowing that our time would need to be spent helping her move and prepare her other house to sell, we made the decision to hire a contractor.

Overall, the contractor was okay, but.... Let's just say, I'm used to running the job myself. When we finished off our own basement, I hired all of the subcontractors, bought and ordered all of the supplies. I did everything from sweeping up after my brother while he and my dad were framing the basement for us to screwing in drywall. And let's not talk about painting. I'm more experienced than I would like to admit...and I have the wardrobe to prove it.

I had hoped that using an experienced contractor would make this process easy this time, but it wasn't to be. Instead we stumbled over one delay after another. What took my family four weeks to do, the contractor took more than twice that long. Now, I realize that eight to ten weeks is pretty normal for finishing off a basement, but I'm not a very patient person. This is why when our contractor didn't show up for the last day of the job, my husband and I went over to Mom's house and finished it ourselves. The contractor had a valid reason for not being there, but we were ready to be done.

Now we just have to move everything into the newly finished basement. Have you ever seen what a ton of fabric looks like? Believe me, I won't need to hit the weight room for a work out for a while yet.