Three years ago I started this blog to promote and discuss the writing of a story that became known as Heathen Hearts. In that time my granddaughter was born and my father died. It has been a struggle, many times against the mechanics of writing with a computer. Finding the time has been the biggest struggle because I work for a living not to mention I live in a suddenly crowded house. No more sitting at the kitchen table with my imaginary friends!
This IS the Red Letter Day though. After all this time I have checked all Kindle's boxes and followed all their cues. Today Heathen Hearts has been published on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MIHUK7Q
On the one hand I want to go hide in the trailer and start writing something new. This story still begs my attention though, so I must find ways and follow advice on how to make this book, if not a household name...at least well read.
I can hardly wait for critics to start emailing me to say that there are no ship graves at Gamla Uppsala, or there was no monument to the victorious Soviet army in Budapest or the bus stop in Pincher Creek wasn't in the Black Hat Trading company at that time. My answer will be one word...fantasy! This is a work of contemporary fantasy. None of this ever happened and the characters never existed...sigh!
The same goes for any friends or family who think they see themselves in some of the characters. As I said in one of my early posts, a writer needs references. My wife actually gave me the idea. She was reading a complicated story with many characters. She flipped through catalogs and magazines to make cut outs of various people. These she named after the characters in the story so she could keep track of them. I went to not just on line photos, but my own albums for faces to reference. Not only faces but I used parts of names in order to keep track of the various actors in the story. I always meant to change them completely but the monster grew too big to go back through every chapter and change names. In the end, I couldn't because Alex was...well Alex and Lorne...Lorne etc. At one time I wanted to change Anya's name but found out that her name actually became an important part of the story in later bits. When Deedee is asked why she called her never to be born son, Hawk, she replied, "Because that's his name." And so each character became their name.
In the end these characters and places are works of fiction and bear no resemblance to actual places nor people living or dead.
Read the book for the adventure and the travel. Read it to solve or resolve the mystery. Is there a moral to the story? I don't know...maybe...life is what you make it. You only get the one chance. Go ahead and stick your head out of the window of a speeding car and take life full in the face. Just be ready for bumblebees...
