My daughter, Jaime is an actress and a writer, and I am a writer who wishes she could act.  Feeling we both needed to work on our books, I flew to Nashville for a few days of plotting (books) and writing.  Jaime’s husband Ed hovered in the background – pushing food our way as needed to revitalize creative juices – that is until the laptops died.  At which point, we plotted while he soldered.

We both have great husbands.  Jaime’s Dad shuttled me to and from the airport and fended for himself while I was away.  Ed as noted above helped keep us focused on our goals by removing irritants such as the aforementioned uncooperative computers that wanted to take a vacation.

There was one minor problem and that was Jaime’s cats, Kramer and Kozmo.  They simply could not understand why we did not devote ourselves to lovingly petting and talking to them.  One time, the smaller of the two huge furry yellow tabbies, Kozmo jumped up next to me on the sofa chair.  I petted and scratched his head briefly before returning to my book on the laptop.  He sat down next to me but made a point of laying his long bushy tail across the keyboard obliterating the keys.  After some initial attempts to coax him to remove his tail, I gently pushed him off the chair.  He gave me that disgusted cat look and left me to my work.

The four days flew by and it was soon time to leave.  We stopped at Provence, a favorite bistro for lunch with their friends before heading to the airport.  Once at the airport, I soon found my flight was delayed so I had plenty of time to work on my craft.  I didn’t get as much done as I wanted as I am easily distracted by the airport environment.  People interacting, planes, food court smells, and personal electronic devices putting off low level hums and music if the user is right next to me.  However I would say the two biggest distractions was realizing too late I forgot my phone charger, and listening to the 15 and 20 minute announcements of further delays to my flight.  Ultimately it was two and a half hours late.

The way I look at it – just more time to gather ‘color’ for future stories.

Field Trip to Varden is the sequel to The Secret of Wellington’s Map. Jaime’s attendance at the Time Keeper Academy makes her family outcasts, and with her best friend Nicole must uncover who is behind her classmates’ disappearance during their field trip to Varden.  The mysterious field trip incident, a relic’s strange inhabitant and her grandfather’s unusual absence are all linked to a greater threat to the Time Keepers.

The first night I was there I drove up International Blvd to grab something to eat.  Memories flooded back as I thought about our long road trip all the way from Arlington, TX.  We drove to our Orlando vacation in our new van which had a television!  Whoo hoo you might say, but it was a big thing then.  Couldn’t pick up many stations, but the television was in there anyway.

While in Orlando, we watched a space shuttle launch, avoided alligators, went to the beach and spent several days at Disney World.  Funny, but every memory I have is in the context of the reaction of our four children to what they saw and did.  I enjoyed the experiences too but there was something special about living it through them.  Feeling the rumble of the space shuttle’s take off, enjoying the beach and trying to decide where we would go next at Disney World.  Some times we split up in a couple of groups to allow everyone to do what they wanted.

Then there was International and all its tourist shops, restaurants, fast food and what I think at the time was the World’s Largest McDonald’s.  My memories were muddled a little as I drove trying to remember what was there when we visited and what was new.  When I stopped at lights or went into a store, I’d glance at the families who were there.  I was almost zealous that my children are now grown, but then…there are always the grandchildren. 

 Last Christmas being the good grandparents we are, we bought an animatronic-like dinosaur for our 2 ½ year granddaughter.  Okay so it was for ages eight and up, we (especially my husband who says Olivia will be a great roboticist some day) decided it was age appropriate if we got it out only when an adult could watch and show her how to take care of it. 

 Fast forward a few months.  My son and daughter-in-law pulled the dinosaur from its box. They let Olivia play with the dinosaur but when Jennifer (her mother) put it up, she noticed the instruction booklet was missing.

That evening when it was time for bed and reading stories, Jennifer pulled out several picture books.  Olivia wasn’t interested in any of them.  The soon-to-be three year old reached in a cubby hole and pulled out the robotic dinosaur instruction manual.  “I want to read this,” she said and settled in for a good read.

I was pleased in early December to speak to two Creative Writing Classes at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas on “Finding Inspiration and Unleashing the Muse.”  We covered several topics and questions such as where to find ideas, working on back story, making time to write, stuck story and critique groups.  The students had some great questions and talent, as several are published authors.  I enjoyed the classes, and thank you again Ms Hale for inviting me.  

My second bit of news revolves around one of the historical places Jaime and Nicole visit in “The Secret of Wellington’s Map” – The Sacred Heart Mission to the Potawatomi near Konowa, Oklahoma.  I was thrilled when the Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN) Cultural Heritage Center (CHC) in Shawnee, Oklahoma contacted me about putting the book in the CPN Library and carrying it in their gift shop, FireLake Gifts.  We are also discussing a book signing when I’m in the area.

Well tomorrow in New Years Eve and I can’t wait to see what happens in 2009!

I wish you a blessed and Happy New Year.

When I was a kid living with my family in San Antonio, Texas we had the equivalent to a ‘Little Rascals’ gang on our street.  We did everything such as had Kool-Aid stands, put on a show and charged admission, and played “Let’s Pretend.”  Now I don’t believe we actually called it a game since it was impromptu.  We would be outside, you know the place where the sun shines and the wind blows, and someone would say ‘let’s pretend.’   Then we’d take off on our adventures in and around the houses until our mothers called us in for lunch or supper or bedtime.  It was great. 

Sometimes we did the traditional role-playing games of bad guys against good guys, and other times we would take something from a book or a television show and create our own version. We had a couple of favorite shows on Saturday afternoons.  The mornings were reserved for cartoons, but in the afternoons we had ‘Shock Theater’ and ‘Jungle Theater.’  Shock Theater showed old movies such as ‘The Blob,’ and all the Frankenstein, werewolf, mummy and invisible man films.  Jungle Theater had all the old Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller and as far as I’m concerned he is the one and only true Tarzan.  They also had ‘Bomba – The Jungle Boy’ a kind of a teenage Tarzan.  So you can see we had a lot to work with, especially when you threw in the western favorites like ‘The Lone Ranger’ and ‘Hopalong Cassidy.’

Even as I grew older, ‘Let’s Pretend’ was my constant friend.  When I watched television, I mentally inserted myself and my friends into a show.  I changed the plot to accommodate us and of course we always played a crucial part in ensuring all ended well and the world was saved.  New westerns such as ‘Bonanza,’ ‘The High Chaparal,’ and ‘The Wild Wild West’ blazed across the television screen.  There were also a lot of spies series, lawyer series, cop series, and a new era of sci-fi series – among them the original ‘Star Trek’ series.  I wrote short stories with television series as the background and one very bad ‘Star Trek’ script.

You are probably asking, “Where does a love of books come in?”  I would not say I was an avid reader growing up (had a book in my hand at all the time), but I did visit the library often.  I loved the Hardy Boys, other mystery books, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo,’ the ‘Born Free’ series, archeology, marine biology, and historical fiction that ranged from the old west to World War II. I would say my real love of books developed over the years.  My husband was and still is an avid reader.  I think he absorbs books rather than reads them.  That is the only way I can explain how fast he gets through them.  I credit him with broadening my literary world by suggesting books to me and reminding me constantly the only way I grow as a writer was to read more.

I found balance in my life of TV and books.  History and science fascinate me, and  through a mixture of favorite television channels, magazines and books I find my story ideas and inspiration.  History Channel, Discovery Channel, Science Channel, SciFi Channel, and well the list goes on.  My choice of books were a similar mixture of fiction and non-fiction.  I was thrilled by the Tom Clancy high-tech novels, entranced by J.R.R.Tolkien’s Middle Earth and J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world, and laughed at Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.  I also held in high regard the wordcrafting of Susan Cooper, Linda Buckley Archer and D.J.MacHale to name just a few.  You know the list is long, but the intent of a blog is not to be a novella so I’ll stop here.  I will say I have an extensive list of books on my ‘To Do’ list and I smile each time I finish one and cross it off.

There is one other important inspiration for a writer and that is life.  As enthralling as books are and as addictive as television can be if allowed, there is so much going on around us each day.  The sun still shines, the wind still blows and my backyard can still hold the adventures of a 1001 days.  However, when you’re my age, you have to consider the possibility of your neighbors calling the police if you have an imaginary swordfight in your backyard.  That is why I now relegate most of my pretending to the written word.  So even though I am grown with a family and a full time job, I still find time to play my favorite game of ‘Let’s Pretend.’  See you in my next book, ‘Field Trip to Varden.’

Guess what?  I am also someone who prefer to have only one email account.  Keeping up with one account keeps me busy at night and that is after making hard choices to reduce the number of listserves, newsletters, and digests I receive.  But my children still feel I’m not connected so they invited me to MySpace, Facebook, High5, IM, Yahoo and well the list keeps growing.  So between work and home, I thought I was doing pretty good until I learned about txtng (texting for whose who are right there in the techno-language challenge with me).

My kids (who are grown) are constantly challenging me to text…uh…txt.  So I do occasionally.  I have learned if I really need to get a call through to one of them who happens to be in a meeting – the thing to do is txt.  They may not be able to answer their cell phone, but they can type like the dickens.  So I grudgingly admit, txtng has its place in an emergency. But still, to me txtng is the Picasso of literature.  I like to see traditional communication.

If you do a little research you find not only are there now novels written in txt but some are serials geared to the small screens of cell phones.  Searching the internet, you find quite a controversy over txtng.  One side claims it reduces young people’s ability to read and spell while others claim abbreviated spelling has been used before in other forms of communication.  Believe me, you could get lost in the discussion. 

So I will end this blog by asking my readers what they think about txtng?  Is it harmful to language skills?  Or is it just the next step on the road of change?

Oh and by the way, does anybody have a good txt dictionary?

Then I read a blog sent to me in a Writers’ Guild of Texas digest. It was “Be Unique” by Colin P. Davies and appeared on the Storycrafters blog – http://storycrafters.blogspot.com. Mr. Davies describes the fear preventing many writers from submitting their work. Rejection. He challenges them to find the courage to overcome it and offers a way to view rejection as a necessary part of our craft. This reminded me of another form of ‘perceived’ rejection – the critique group.

I remember the first writer’s workshop I attended. Everyone signing up for the critique session was assigned to a group of five people. They sent us the mailing address of every one in our group. The instruction was to send a copy of our work to the others. When we received their work, we were to review, comment, and bring the manuscripts to the class.

On the day of the workshop, I met my group led by a published author. She facilitated the process of critiquing each author’s submission. After the discussion and before we moved on to the next person, everyone handed the author their marked up copy of the work. It was a good process and we had multiple written opinions to take home, something every writer values. A good experience if not for the ‘technical writer.’ I am not implying technical writers are bad. Since I blotted her name from my memory, I can only recall that was her day job and so how I remember her. She ripped every manuscript to pieces. I could see the devastation on the other writers because their faces looked like I felt. I went home and did not write for a year!

After getting up the courage to return to the land of the writing, I learned that experience was an exception. Since then I participated in many wonderful groups of insightful writers who helped me improve my craft. If I had not been so new, I would have done then what I do today – take what I find of value in the criticism and discard the rest. Something I expect other writers to do with my comments about their works. The majority of writers want to see each other succeed. What I experienced at that first workshop is not the norm.

The point in discussing my first critique experience is to take Mr. Davies’ point a couple of steps further although perhaps not in as eloquent language. Critique groups are another form of rejection or learning, depending on how you accept it. And as I launch my first book and web site many questions ricochet inside my mind. What will happen? Will they like it? Will they hate it? How will it be received? Each question threatens to bring on the same throat-tightening suspense of opening an answer to a submission. Then I read Colin Davies’ blog and at the end, he lists a divergent list of reviews for one of his stories. His blog and summary was just what I needed on the eve of my book and web site launch. Writers, editors, reviewers and readers all have a different way of thinking so be prepared for all types of responses.

I took a deep breath and smiled. Suddenly I felt like a fighter in the ring for the first time. I know, I know. It is a book not a rumble for the title and I’m not Rocky Balboa. But all the training, long hours of preparation, and the work with my writing coaches make it feel like I am stepping into the ring, hoping the crowd loves me. So I’m taking the next cautious step on the road of a writer, braving rejection to put my work out there just so I can share a part of me.

Thank you to all the writers who have walked this road before me.

Thank you Colin P. Davies for your blog. The effect may not be what you were going for but as your blog indicates – we all think differently and words affect each of us in a unique way.

Thank you for reading The Secret of Wellington’s Map. I hope you enjoy it.