CATS, WIND, LOTS OF WIND, A LITTLE SUNSHINE, WARMER WEATHER. MY CHARACTERS

風鈴 Wind chimes, display in street in front of shop, Nagano, Japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2IMG_2080 (Photo credit: Cat Sidh)

Thanks to my sister calling me at 8:30 this a.m., I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of bed until 9:30 or 10.  That is unusual for me as the cats get hungry at 7:30 and will walk up the bed to nudge my hand and meow in my face.  When they want their breakfast, they want it now.

I am a slave to my animals when it comes to their care.  Animals have been my kids.  God knew what he was doing when he made me so I couldn’t have children.  He put me in charge of caring for animals.  I do a good job too.  Mine are spoiled.

The sun was out for a time, and now would you believe, it is spitting snowing while the ice is dripping off the roof of the back porch.  Drip, drip, there goes some snow flakes.  Crazy.  I need to go to the store, but I don’t want to drive on icy streets.  I have enough food in the house to last for a few days until the ice melts.  Then, I have to get out of this house for a time.  You know, cabin fever.  I’ve been in the house working like mad since last Thursday.

You should see the mountains, which I can see from my front window now that the trees are bare.  White and beautiful.  The snow will soon melt later this week.

The wind chime hanging from the porch roof hasn’t stopped singing for nearly five days.  Don’t get me wrong, I love wind chimes, but we could do with less wind.  It is gusting up to 45 miles an hour, and I have no idea when it will stop.

I am happy to report my characters in The Stone Killer are talking to me again.  They have been silent for a time.  Maybe I offended them by working on the other books we published.   If I sound nuts treating them as real people, that’s okay.  If your characters are not real to you, how can you write about them  Detective John T. Huntington is very real to me.  I know him.  The tragedy he suffered, when he was eighteen, affected his entire life.   And he is still haunted by the murder of his high school girlfriend, Kelly.   But his vindication is coming in book three of the series.

Eppie (short for Esperanza) Ortiz, JT’s partner, has her own tragedy to deal with.  Her mother is dying of cancer.  But there is a secret in her family that has been hidden on Rampart Range for ten years which will soon come to light.  Eppie’s story will be revealed in book two of the series, unless Marilyn Heddrix, a murder victim in The Stone Killer, will stop screaming at me to tell her story of redemption first.  We shall see who wins out.

Well, the sun is still fighting for the spotlight.  I hope it wins.  Every one have a fantastic day and stay safe, as bad weather is headed east.  So if you are traveling, be careful.  You are a valuable person whoever you are.  Nothing is worth your life.  Your spot in the universe can’t be filled by anyone or anything else. Your loss would only leave a vacant hole.  We have enough of that now.

Talk to you later.

COLD WEATHER, SNOW TODAY AND TOMORROW. THE STONE KILLER. MURDER, LOVE AND EDITING

Downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Freezing Day (Photo credit: ashwin kumar)

I arose this a.m. to a vision of an outside covered in white and 24 degrees.  The roads were slick as was my front steps and driveway.  The prediction for tonight is 9 degrees with a wind chill even colder.  Yes!  I am still thrilled to be back in Colorado Springs.  The sun will come out tomorrow and melt the snow, and the sky will be that beautiful turquoise blue that I love.  Yes, it is supposed to snow again tonight and tomorrow.  But I have faith that I will see sunshine sometime on the 22nd.  I don’t handle gray day too well.

We are hard at work on the Stone Killer.  I talked with my friend, Tony, in Florida today.  He has been after us to get the book finished so he can purchase a copy.  Well, we are working hard to get it done even with the holidays coming fast.  Thanksgiving will not be a working day for us, as I have been invited out to dinner and sister has to cook.  We try to keep a schedule of 600 to a 1000 words per day, and hopefully will have the first draft done by the end of December.  We all do have to go Christmas shopping.  Then comes the tweaking of the storyline and then the editing, editing, and some more editing.  We hate to find any errors in our finished book.  If you find any, please let us know the chapter, page number and paragraph at dreamah.lockwood@aol.com

In The Stone Killer JT and Morgan both have a funeral to attend, a killer to find and JT Huntington has to protect the woman with whom he is falling in love.  The Stone Killer will be out in early 2014.

Everyone have a fantastic day tomorrow and stay safe.  We hope your Thanksgiving will be blessed with friends and family around your table.  God Bless and give A CIRCLE OF MURDERS and CREATNG KATHRYN CROWN a read.

 

 

 

WRITING VERSUS OIL PAINTING, CHILLY WEATHER, CLOUDS, A NEED FOR SUNSHINE

Downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pikes Peak (Photo credit: Markusnl)

Yesterday was bright and sunny for most of the day.  It did rain a little in the late afternoon.  But, It is a chilly here in Colorado Springs today.  The high is supposed to reach the mid fifties.  Clouds cover most of the sky with a patch of blue here and there.  The wind is whipping the tree branches back and forth and adding to the chill.   I haven’t seen the sun as yet and Pikes Peak is socked in, thus hidden from my view.  Maybe farther up Ute Pass, they could have a touch of snow.  In town, winter is nipping at the foliage and trees along the streets vary in color from gold to rust and then red.  It is all so beautiful which creates a dilemma for me.  I need to be working on ‘The Stone Killer’, but also need to finish setting up my art studio, and I want to be outside photographing the fall foliage.  I do all types of oil paintings which I sell.  It is part of my income.

My schedule dictates that I write a minimum of a page a day, more if I am on a roll and the story is flowing.   In the afternoon, I would like to put at least three to four hours on a painting, but that does not always happen.  Sometimes this schedule works and sometimes it doesn’t.  Life interrupts all schedules.  There are times I need to paint for therapy.  Today feels that way.  As it is so chilly, going out to take photos for any reason can wait until tomorrow.

As you probably know, I’m a nut case, as most writers or artist have to be in order for us to have the wild and crazy imagination we have to create the stories we write.  The words we put on paper or a computer screen comes from the depths of us, our life’s experiences, the good and the bad and outside events.  We are exaggerators and elaborators.  We take a simple act and expound on it, stretching that incident to the limits and then ask, what if?  And so we create a story.

Boy, did I get off the subject.  A canvas is calling to me to finish a painting of flowers.  It is 12:36 here so I will write my page and then work on the studio.  I need to buy a carpet remnant as I have a problem with paint loaded brushes flying out of my hand at times and hitting the floor.  I don’t think my landlord would appreciate me staining his new wood floors.  So thank you all for listening,  I have solved my dilemma, I can do both today.

Oh, by the way, Bandit the cat is sleeping soundly in her bed next to my desk and near the heat vent.  My little girl is tired after chasing Stanley through the house this morning.  She is such a baby.

It’s lunch time, so everyone take care and stay safe.

STILL UNPACKING, HANGING PAINTINGS, COOLER WEATHER

English: Pikes Peak seen from Garden of the Gods park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The cats woke me at 6 a.m. all eager for their breakfast.  The weather report says it is 63 degrees here in Colo Spgs.  Thank God for the cooler weather.  When you don’t have A/C, 87 degrees can seem really hot in the house even if you don’t have humidity.  Fall is on its way and soon I will see snow for the first time in a long time.  This year, Christmas will seem like Christmas with cold weather, and maybe it will be a white Christmas.   And my sister is wrong about the Peak being just a big rock.  Pikes Peak is a mountain with a timberline.  She is only used to rolling HILLs.

I am in the process of unpacking my paintings and getting ready to hang them on the walls out of the way.  I didn’t realize how many I have, but at least now they will be displayed instead of being stacked on the floor against the wall.

I have more research to do on the Stone Killer and hope to have it completed and uploaded by the end of the year.  Our plans are to have Creating Kathryn Crown uploaded by the end of Sept.  Cross your fingers for us.

Never give up on your writing and keep applying words to paper.  Keep your stories flowing.  Everyone have a wonderful day.  Stay well and safe.

 

HOT, NO A/C, STILL UNPACKING, TEARS OF JOY AND LAVENDER

English: View of Pikes Peak from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, sometime before 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It did not cool off much last night.  I woke up in a sweat this morning.  As I sit here at the computer, I look out through the sliding glass doors at the big Elm tree in the back yard, not a leave is moving.  But, a cool front is coming this weekend and will drop the temperature by 10 degrees.  Even without A/C in this house, I am thankful to be in Colorado.  I did not realize how much I missed being here.  Yes, I was a aware of being homesick, but to look out and see Pikes Peak any time I want makes me almost cry.  I’m an emotional person.  I cry at sad movies, at a beautiful dance routine, or when something gives me joy, like the amazing lavender plants growing all over Colorado Springs.  Yard after yard filled with blooming lavender is a glorious sight.

I bought my own pot of  lavender to plant.  It is starting to bloom.  There is a small garden in the corner of the back yard where it will thrive.  I will plant it there so when I have my morning coffee at my desk, I can see it.

Well, the unpacking is progressing.  Most of my clothes are unpacked and put away.  What amazes me is how much bedding I have.  Goodwill here I come.  I still have a lot of boxes to go through, so had better get busy.

Everyone have a great day.  Take care of your selves and be safe.

HOT, MUGGY AND BUGGY TO DRY AND COOL

English: Colorado Springs downtown author: cpt.spock on flickr source: flickr.com url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cptspock/1807697720/sizes/l/#cc_license url for license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My friend Robin and I have been busy packing all my belonging for my move to Colorado Springs, Colorado.  I am selling most of the “stuff” I have collected over the years and will be glad to be rid of it.  It has been packed away and never used, so I don’t need it.  Of course all my writing book and such plus all my oil painting equipment, brushes, paints, canvases, easels and frames go with me.  Believe me, my art equipment is a lot.  So is my writing books and computers.

One of the main reasons for moving to Colo is that my house here in Florida has sold, and I have to go somewhere.  I lived in Colo before and loved it, so why not go back.  I love the Rockies and since the Garden of the Gods is the local for THE STONE KILLER, I can do more on the scene research and my friend with the Colo Spgs Police Dept lives there and will allow me to pick his brain for information.  I will miss my friends in Florida.  They are a great bunch, but email and Skype are available, also the phone works both ways and planes fly west.

I am excited about returning to the Springs.  I will arrive there in mid August and will get to see the mountains turn gold as the Aspen leaves change color.  This year, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be cold and more like they should be as the weather eases into winter.  I have family and friends still in Colo who are excited to see my return.  We all need to live where we are happiest.  For me that is Colo Spgs.  And as one of my sisters keeps telling me, it not the same place as when I lived there.  Of course not.  Every place changes over the years just as we all do, some for the better, some in the worst way.  I was in the Springs in 2008 and it has spread out, but the downtown is the same 8 square blocks.  So, folks, keep me in your prayers as I make the long drive from Florida to Colorado with my friend Robin and my “three cats” in my Chevy HHR.  Yes, three cats, so it should be interesting.

Don’t forget to read my novel A CIRCLE OF MURDERS.  It’s a good story and I think you’ll like my main female character Sarra Gray.  She has had a hell of a rough life.  Give it a read and let me know what you think.  I would love your feedback.

All of you have a great day and stay safe.

REVIEWS AND COWBOYS

English: View of Pikes Peak from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, sometime before 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was thrilled to see that A CIRCLE OF MURDERS received two more five star review.  You know how it is.  When you send the kid out into the world to play with the others, you hope everyone will like your child and want to be their friend.  That is not the case and I accept it, but those five star reviews give me chills of appreciation.  So, a big THANK YOU to all who have read our novel whether or not you liked it.

Question:  How many fiction authors out there have their characters tell you their names whenever you start a new book?  I would like to know if this happens to anyone else.

Anyway, Well, I am back working on THE STONE KILLER.  The setting is Colorado Springs, Colorado and the main characters are Morgan Jansen and my Detective Sergeant John T. Huntington.  Morgan and her sister Marilyn gave me no problem.  They are identical twins and couldn’t be more opposite in personality or so it seems.

But John T, boy, he’s a bit of a problem.  He’s the big strong silent type.  A through and through cowboy.  Born and raised around Midland, Texas, he carries around some baggage.  As a teenager, he worked hard on his grandfather’s ranch and dated his classmate, Kelly Burton.  Three weeks after graduation while on a date with Kelly, John T blacks out and awake to find Kelly missing.   When he gets home to his grandfather’s house, the cops are waiting for him and Kelly is dead, brutally raped and murdered.  At first JT is the prime suspect, but nothing can be proven so he is never arrested.  Kelly’s murder is never solved.

JT blames himself for not protecting her.  He goes to college, studies anything to do with Criminal Justice and then joined the Marines, serves in Iraq and Afghanistan, is wounded and returns home, moves to Colorado Springs and joins the police force.

There we have his history so far.  Now JT is faced with multiple murders in the Springs and a woman that takes his breath away, Morgan Jansen.

Please tell me what you think.

Father’s Day

English: View of Pikes Peak from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, sometime before 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To all you fathers, we hope you have a great day.

We are happy to see rain is possible for the next three day in Colorado Springs and the Black Forest.  We have relatives who live not far from the fire.  Our thoughts and prayers are with all who suffered the loss of their lives and homes.