I admit it - I get busy with life - 3 kids, 2 dogs, 1 husband, writing books, editing books etc... And, I forget to post to my own blog. It's not that I'm not writing. I've been writing like crazy lately. Poetry, songs, flash fiction, A NEW BOOK!
Yes, this winter I wrote a new book. I hadn't planned on it. I finished writing TABUPU AND HE KEY OF DESTINY sometime in January, and I decided to take a break from novel-writing. My head decided that. My soul had other plans.
The story of Margaret Star and Gray Trax unfolded and evolved over a period of 4 weeks. I have NEVER written a book that quickly. The characters just spoke to me. As usual, I was inspired by events happening in real life - a horrible school shooting tragedy had just occurred in Florida, and my daughter's middle school was on lock down because of bomb threats two days in a row. Also, there was a student (whose locker was right next to my daughter's) who threatened to "shoot up" the school and claimed to have brought weapons to school with him. My daughter turned the boy in, as he watched from across the hallway.
Not the most comfortable moments of life. So this anxiety inside my heart translated into questions, then morphed into a story.
The questions: What happens to the girl who fell in love with the school shooter? What does her aftermath look like? How does she miss the warning signs? Blinded by love?
Which is why my novel was originally called Blind Love - BLECH! Horrible title!
So, I had my basis for the story. Then the characters came to life and told me they were way more important than the plot - which is always true for me. I write character driven novels.
And - because my characters drove the plot - my story changed. It became more about 2 deaf teens, both trying to navigate life in a hearing world, both dealing with their own sets of difficult circumstances, who find comfort and inspiration in each other. Yes, they fall in love. Yes, one has mental health issues that urge him toward violence. Yes, one theme of the book is that intimacy can be blinding. But, the real theme is that love can be the driving force in overcoming hardships. Love makes us strive to be the best versions of ourselves.
After leaving the field of Deaf education 14 years ago to raise my daughters, I really loved diving back into the subject of Deaf culture and all of its intricacies. My book is now called HEAR ME. That could change. It's early. I'm still editing.
And, as I edit, as always, I'm writing poetry and songs and flash. These are my release. Here is something I wrote yesterday, as I stared out at my favorite beach from the condo balcony.
Marco Island
Smiling and breathing the heavy salt air that wraps around all of Your creations.
Three of them are right next to me.
They're adding color to bone white seashells
I can close my eyes and see them as babies.
Just yesterday they toddled over the sand with tiny feet.
And now they vacillate from cartwheels and whirlpools to sun worship and tan seeking.
Ah, the mystery of time.
Only You know the solution.
Thunder rolls across the black sky at my back
While pale blue invites the sun to show itself over the Gulf.
Such vast expanse between the two.
Another mystery of Yours.
The fish jump in the lagoon.
Invisible bugs nibble at the skin on my elbows.
Foamy waves crawl slowly to the shore.
All by Your design.
All at the direction of Your hand.
