And the Leaves that are Green Turn to Brown

Points if you know who sang the song I quoted for the title of my post!

DH and I took a trip to Virginia this month, just a few days to visit family. Long overdue, we spent our time running back and forth from one sister/brother/nephew to another, most of whom were recovering from a dreaded virus and were afraid to share their germs. We managed to escape unscathed (although DH did have a cold/allergies upon our return). Seeing family you don't get to visit often is energizing, life-affirming. I enjoy spending time with my in-laws and I know DH is happier for having made the trip.

When we came home, Fall seemed to have arrived unannounced. Over the span of those few short days, the leaves had turned to brown and red and yellow and were falling at an accelerated pace. As we took our evening constitutional, the sidewalks were carpeted with leaves big and small. Where did the summer go? As a consolation prize, Mother Nature seems to be having a last laugh by setting record high temperatures to screw with us now that Autumn is officially upon us. In just a weeks' time, many of these trees have already lost their foliage. The narrative remains the same. Time hurries on. Time waits for no man. The earth is shedding the old, preparing for the new. Soon we'll have a blanket of clean, white snow and should we be blessed with another spring, the colors will return, bursting into buds and flowers with the promise of renewal one more time.

Fact checking your work

One of the most interesting, and confounding, parts of writing is doing the research. As I comb through the first draft of my next installment in the Epitaph series, I'm working closely with my "fact checker," a friend who assures me architecture is boring (my main characters are both architects).

When asked, many of us might say our jobs were boring, and that will be true to a certain extent, but the jobs are only subplots to the book as a whole. During the writing process, I strive for a measure of authenticity, which means I have to learn about the professions I don't know much about. With COOKIE THERAPY, I interviewed a fireman I'd met in the grocery store (thank you, Mike). And a fireman neighbor. And a fireman on a writers resource loop. All for the sake of authenticity. It's amazing how four different viewpoints can differ for the same job, or possibly this author didn't quite understand what she was being told. In the end, readers did comment that they appreciated the authenticity of my firefighter's job in the story, so I must have gotten the important stuff right. On the downside, after talking with the firefighters and writing that book, I sat down to watch CHICAGO FIRE on television one night (shout out to Author Marilyn Brant who made a cameo) and for the first time in my life, I found myself saying "that would never happen" while watching a television show. I realize TV depends a lot on suspended belief - fake it to fit it into the one-hour slot - but this was my first experience with knowing the difference. You know what I'm talking about, things like processing DNA in less than a month. It doesn't happen in real life. Likewise, I knew the reality of what would and wouldn't happen on a fire engine. Ruined the show for me!

My process tends to be to get the story down and fix the details later. During preliminary conversations with my architect friend, I wrote the story to what I assumed from what she'd told me. Later, we met again and she corrected my misconceptions, and she gave me more fodder to work with. I met with her once more to run the rest of my work-related scenes by her and she gave me MORE ideas to update. In the end, some of it will be inaccurate (call it artistic license), but for the most part, I hope to get the details right. I've learned something more about what architects do and enriched my knowledge base, and an appreciation for what my friend does for a living.

Can we avoid Natural Disasters?

As Dear Husband and I weigh our options for the future, we've been considering where in the world we might like to live. Watching all the natural disasters that are overtaking the U.S. makes you stop and think. How do you decide where to live?

I'm a big fan of the desert Southwest, and I had proposed places to live like Arizona or Utah or Santa Barbara. Doesn't hurt to have a wish list, right? Watching the wildfires that are burning in that part of the country, from Arizona north through Canada, breaks my heart. I can't even imagine watching everything I own go up in smoke, and for those people affected, you have my sympathies.

And then there are my friends in Florida. What a great place to retire. What a horrific place this past month. Some of the people who live there tend to believe hurricane season is only slightly more frightening than a thunderstorm up here in the Midwest, with the threat of tornadoes. Again, I can't imagine having to abandon my home and wondering what will be left after the storm passes. The destruction that follows in the wake of those storms boggles my mind. Again, my heart goes out to those people, in Houston, in Florida and the islands that have been decimated. I can't even imagine.

Every part of the country has its own intrinsic dangers. Here in Chicago, we do get tornadoes, although thankfully not frequently. I've watched hurricane level destruction happen right here in Illinois, although tornadoes generally don't cover as much real estate as Irma did.

One of my friends in Cleveland posted at article on how that appears to be the safest place in the country to live. No floods, no storm surges, no wildfires. Do they get tornadoes there?

No place is immune from natural disaster. Tectonic plates run all through the continent, so while California might be more prone to earthquakes, that doesn't preclude other parts of the country. And what about the Great Chicago Fire? Yes, that was a very long time ago, and construction has improved since that time to prevent such widespread disaster, but the fires out west are a testament to what could still happen.

As DH and I consider relocating, I try to remember that tomorrow isn't guaranteed, and wherever we end up, Mother Nature is likely to have some surprises in store for us. We're trying to do our part for those in need after these cataclysmic events, and trying not to look over our own shoulders for when its our turn. Like a lightning strike, there isn't much we can do to avoid a natural disaster should it cross our paths.

If you are able to help those who have been affected by Mother Nature's fury, 

please consider donating to the Red Cross, 

or your religions organization's efforts, or another worthy charity.

On Tour!

I'm taking the easy way out today - I'm doing a blog tour this week to tell the world all about THE MIRROR. Some of my fabulous hosts have asked me some fun questions, and along the tour you'll find interviews from when I started writing, to my inspirations, to my favorite movie scenes! Of course there are blurbs, and there's a Rafflecopter to win a gift card for a lucky winner (Amazon or Barnes & Noble). So pop over at any or all of these lovely blogs and join the fun. And the best part? THE MIRROR is on sale this week for just 99 cents. That's less than a buck! Pick up a copy quick.

September 4: Fabulous and Brunette
September 4: Hearts and Scribbles - promo
September 5: Christine Young
September 5: Welcome to My World of Dreams
September 6: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
September 6: Deal Sharing Aunt
September 7: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
September 7: Up 'Til Dawn Book Blog
September 8: K.T. Castle
September 8: Straight From the Library