I showed up at Taberna del Gallo for work as usual on Sunday - no reason I shouldn't just because it was my birthday after all - and was completely surprised by a party in my honor. I'm a little slow on the uptake - or maybe I can be excused by the interest several patrons showed in my recently released debut novel, but the fact that two couples I call friends just happened to be hanging out in the tavern didn't tip me off. Neither did the fact that both the men who work the tavern were on duty when usually it's just the one on a Sunday afternoon. Even when I spotted Jenny, who manages the place, I hurried after her to tell her something and it was only then that I discovered a party all laid out on the patio. It's amazing how single-mindedly blind I can be at times. There were all the usual accoutrements of a birthday party; good food, cake and ice cream, gifts and photos of course. One of my favorite musicians was there to play and my favorite pirate stopped by to wish me a happy day as well. What a lovely way to mark the passing of years (even when one might wish to slow them down.)  I didn't get much work done, but no one seemed to mind. It turned out to be one of my best birthdays ever, but then, the folk who were there are the best ever. Thanks to Jenny, who I suspect organized it all, to Josh who picked out the perfect cake and always makes my Sundays fun, to Joel for the music, to Bill, Hazel, Bob, Ned, Greg and Reenie for setting aside part of your busy weekend to be there and to everyone else who stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday. I love you all.

The Kindle in this pile is deceiving - slimmer than anything else save the newspaper clipping, yet it currently holds over 150 books and can hold more than ten times that. The pile itself is deceiving because that's just one surface in my house currently overflowing with books I want to read. In fact, I've decided I need to live as long as Methuseleh if I have any hope of reading everything has caught my interest. And that's if I stop acquiring new material! So, how does one control your To-Be-Read pile? For that matter, how do you keep track of all the books you've managed to amass? I'm looking for ideas here so any suggestions you have are more than welcome. 
But then, I am surrounded by books and I love it. The abundance is a blessing. And no matter what kind of a mood I'm in, there's surely something I will enjoy curling up with. We often take the luxury of reading for granted. We never think about the gift of knowing how to read as just that, a gift. How often do we remember how fortunate we are to live in a country where we have the freedom to read anything we want. Even the smallest of our towns have public libraries where anyone is welcome to come and browse. Our electronic age has made it even easier to acquire books. We can read them on paper, held in our hands, or we can read them on Kindles and Nooks, on our smart phones and our tablets and our computers. Think about the pioneers who traveled west in covered wagons, carrying a handful of carefully chosen books with them and re-reading them over and over. Or the rare soldier or sailor who had but one book to his name and that book a prize possession. How about the indentured servant or slave who had been fortunate enough to be taught how to read because their work required it and they treasured a cast off book regardless of the subject matter. Or a prisoner with a precious book secreted under a mattress to be read only when no one was looking. I wonder what they would think of my library? Of my riches?

   It occurs to me that they would think I was lucky beyond belief. So, I guess the idea of trying to decide what to read next or worrying about the overflowing piles would make them smile or shake their head at me in reproof. Should I ever get up in the dark of night and come into my library and find one of these book-starved ghosts from the past curled up on my loveseat with one of my books in their hand, I think I'll ask them if they'd like a cup of tea to go with it and leave them in peace to enjoy the rest of my collection.

Either my gadgets are getting smarter or I’m getting dumber…Probably both! Not so long ago if I had an interesting tidbit to relate, I could have told you exactly where I heard it. Or read it. Now . . . not so much. The sheer volume of information that I am exposed to has blossomed exponentially and my sources are everywhere.

A few years back my niece set up a family website. Most of us had a cell phone and we all had access to email, but suddenly this became our main source of family unity. Emotionally we are a close and sharing family but we are scattered all over the country so our new family website was like a virtual family gathering. We had picture pages, wish lists and a family calendar, but the most important page was the chat room. None of us would have dreamed of going through an entire day without checking in to see what the rest of the family was up to. We thought this was the end-all in family connectedness!

How quickly that all changed! Now we have smartphones and a download called WhatsApp. Now we “chat” via our phones. Even better, we can share photos and videos. I saw my granddaughter’s missing front teeth and the progress of my daughter’s house construction in New York, my grandson’s fascination with his dad’s power drill and his sister showing off her dance moves in Massachusetts. I can see and hear two other granddaughters playing in a violin recital and dancing at a Feis in Maryland. On Mother’s day I did face-time with my kids and grandkids - hundreds of miles away and they blew me kisses, sang me songs and showed me their latest artwork, and toys.

Then there’s Facebook and Twitter! Who could have even begun to imagine the effect Facebook and Twitter would have on our social lives just a few years ago? Turns out these social mediums and dozens of others can either be the making or breaking of us. Sadly, a congressman from New York found out just how devastatingly ruinous it can be to post something he shouldn’t have. But conversely, an acquaintance of mine gave up waiting for the publishing world to recognize her talent and she self-published her book, which by word of mouth, spread over the country and the world via the internet and became a best seller beyond her wildest dreams. For most of us, they are just another way of sharing the things that make life fun, interesting, challenging and rewarding. Or for staying in touch with all the people we know, no matter how our paths might diverge.

And Blogs! Keeping a personal journal online for the whole world to follow. You can share ideas and information on any topic you can think of. There’s Skpye if you want to see who you’re communicating with. U-tube to share videos. Wikipedia, Ask.com - Google has become a verb! Don’t know the answer to something? Google it!!

Is it any wonder I can’t remember where I heard something? Now if only my smartphone could start an alphabetical file to help me keep track of things. Oh wait—maybe there’s an app for that!

My novels begin in different ways. Sometimes they are just vague thoughts that dance like wraiths in my head and heart for a while. Sometimes they come to me out of the blue like a giant mosaic, all laid out in copious detail. One such book came to me while I explored an abandoned island off the coast of Maine, its houses empty or gone, leaving only daisy-strewn, grass-carpeted cellar holes behind. I stood on one such foundation on a bright sunny day, and the thought came to me, what if this rock I am standing on gave way and I fell into this hole? What if I hit my head, then woke up to find a roof blocking out the sky and the century was in the past? I had such a great time writing that story and exploring the history buried in that old foundation. I hope one day that book will find its way into print because I loved that hero and heroine and I enjoyed the months I spent living in their story.

Whatever it Takes was born differently. My main character, Matt Steele, arrived in my head first, and he was struggling with a problem. But then I had to find a venue to put him into. Perhaps because it was a presidential election year, that became his world. The rest of characters came, one at a time, some because I needed them, some because they demanded to be included. And the story evolved as they argued with me, told me things I didn’t know, and interacted with each other. I created his wife Eve and thought I knew her story, but she surprised me by being very different than I’d first intended. There was a lot of research to be done this time as well because Matt’s issues were out of the past. More than thirty years in the past. But I love history and enjoy research so that was a pleasurable adventure. Researching the down and dirty of our political world wasn’t nearly as much fun, but along the way I found Thanh and then Annie. Ben and Megan, Murdock, TJ and so many more fun and interesting characters joined the cast, bringing their personalities and problems. Now that the final galleys have been checked and rechecked and the writing is done, I will miss them.

Sergeant Samuel Gray Davis, the hidden hero in this story died over thirty years ago and he was named after my grandson, Samuel John Taylor, who died seven years ago of SIDS at the age of five months. Samuel is dedicated to all the young men who went to fight in that war during my coming of age. He was inspired mostly by my brother, Scotty, who did come home, thank God, and a childhood friend who did not. Sam was a boy once, and you get to see some of the things that made up the man he became. Sam had a mom and a dad, family and friends, just as all the young men who have served our country from its beginning to the present day. A family to mourn his loss and treasure his memory and keep old photos to remember him by. My heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to all the young people who serve in our armed forces, protecting the freedoms so many take for granted and preserving the American Dream.

 

I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I have enjoyed the creation of it. Look for it  on Wings-Press.com or Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

My friend Vickie King was playing around with her computer at the end of a great ACRA meeting where we had a workshop on social networking, specifically Twitter. And suddenly, there in front of her was an email from the editor at Belle Bridge Books offering her a two book contract. She was in tears - the rest of us were whooping with glee. What a way to end a meeting! Congratulations Vickie... look for her Braddock Series beginning in September 2013.

The workshop was presented by Kellie Sharpe, aka Summer Stephens. I only wish I knew a fraction of the stuff she knows about social networking on the internet. Lots of great information Kellie. Thanks for sharing.

Right on time, at noon on the high tide, HMS Bounty arrived in St Augustine. I was so hoping to see her come in under sail, but that didn't happen for a couple reasons. One, she actually arrived six hours early and had to sit outside the harbor waiting for the tide and the schedule. Also, it's a small harbor with strong currents and she's a BIG ship! Our own pirate ship, the Black Raven, which is a pretty impressive ship suddenly seemed to shrink as the Bounty sailed past her. The Bridge of Lions was lined with folks to watch as Bounty navigated the, for her, narrow opening under the draw, but her captain and crew has battened all the spars down and she went through like a hot knife through butter.

I had to wait a few days before I could go aboard, but eventually the Coast Guard finished checking her out and folk were invited to visit.
  You can see how impressively big she is, totally dwarfing the Bridge of Lions just beyond her.

After a weekend of visitors, the crew and many of the local folk who helped sponsor her visit came to Taberna del Gallo to party. Since Sunday night is my regular night to volunteer there, I got to rub shoulders with captain and crew, pirates and corsairs and lots of other fun folk.

I'm still a little breathless and a lot astonished. A long time ago I discovered that talent and hard work weren't always enough to get a book published. But I kept writing and kept submitting and filing away rejections, then went on to the next project. I've had a couple great critique partners who offered their wisdom and encouragement, and my kids were my biggest cheerleaders. Everyone believed in me - even me! But even so, the email offering me a contract today took me by surprise. Even more outstanding is that they want to release it in June of this year. THIS YEAR! Amazing, awesome and so very satisfying. I read the entire contract, but I think I need to read it again when my head is not still in the clouds and get down to business. But in the mean time - I think I'll have another glass of wine! Thank you to everyone who had a part in getting me to this place in my life. Love you all.

The week began with an unusually ambitious agenda, so I made a list. I'm good with lists. I like lists. I especially like checking things off! The first thing I tackled was scraping and sanding the outdoor furniture, then getting two new coats of Helmsman urethane on everything. That was the first easy item on the list. Another relatively easy task was to check out the possibility of moving back into the larger storage unit I had before, and when the answer was yes, that morphed into filling out the paperwork and actually moving everything from one end of the facility to the other. But since I was at it, I put away my winter gear and got out my summer stuff which is a plus. I even found my Easter Basket - just in case the bunny decides to visit my place, and came across a photo of my brother and I when we were toddlers to add to my family gallery. Next up: Last week I bought two new bougainvillea plants and three hibiscus. They were still sitting on the deck in the plastic pots they came in so I took pity on them and transplanted them into bigger pots with some room for their roots to spread out. The weather was so nice this week, it was a great excuse to be out of doors. But eventually I managed to burn through all the "easy" tasks and had to sit myself down at the computer to deal with the more problematic ones.

My writer's chapter voted to set up a PayPal account and since I'm the treasurer, getting it done fell under my job description. Reading through the initial information, this seemed pretty easy so I dove into that one thinking maybe an hour or so. Three hours later, having spoken to two helpdesks and having to conference the president in so they could actually talk to me, that job was done. The gorgeous weather and the beach called and I scrambled out of here for a walk by the sea. Balancing the chapter checkbook and writing up the monthly report came next. Fortunately no problems popped up and that was dispatched in good time. Our Annual conference in the fall had four registrations already - a good sign, but I had to take time out to wrestle with WORD (which is NOT my favorite program) to start the attendee list. And all this time the really big job loomed and I did my best to ignore it, or subconsciously find excuses to put it off. Time for another walk on the beach??

TAXES! I get through January and February reassuring myself that I can't do them yet because the company I used to work for gets until March to spit out their limited partnership reports. But the K-1 came  last week, which is why taxes were on my to-do list this week. Not my favorite task as you might have guessed by the sheer volume of projects I put between me and the tax return. But Friday morning comes and I haven't even started. As I savored my morning cup of tea I decided I'd download Turbotax and that would fulfill my tax obligation for the week. Just download it, perhaps take a look at it, but I wouldn't actually DO the taxes until NEXT week! I am happy to say, once started, it was hard to decide where to stop. I got further and further into the thing and ended up opting to connect with my bank and brokerage and download all that information automatically! And as I said, one thing led to another and I am thankful and relieved to report that I just put the whole paper file away with all my previous year's tax returns. The return has been electronically filed. AND I DON'T OWE ANY TAXES!

And so my ambitious To-Do list has everything checked off. Isn't that fantastic?

Anyone who loves history, pageantry and just plain fun will love St Augustine. I've never been in a city that celebrates so often or with so much enjoyment. This past weekend was no different. St Patrick's Day is still a week away, but the festivities have begun. For two days there was a Celtic Festival going on at Francis Field with bagpipers, Irish dancers, musicians, Scottish games, and lots more - even haggis for the brave folks who'll try anything once. Saturday morning began with a parade through town, and I know now I should have taken a lot more photos because I remember seeing a lot of really fun stuff. Ever seen storm troopers in kilts?  Check this out!!
 
Last week St Augustine was visited by re-enactors from as far away as Ohio that I know of - perhaps further. They set up camp at the Fountain of Youth and represented a colony in the 1600s. On Saturday evening, we were treated to the re-enactment of Searle's Raid on St Augustine in 1668. Women were kidnapped from houses along St George Street as the raiders forced the defending Spaniards back until they retreated into their wood fort.

Just the week before that was the 493rd birthday of Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the founder of our nation's oldest city. That was celebrated by a parade down St George Street complete with courtiers, a 17th century pope, Big Head puppets and so many more.

Back in December we had British Watch night - honoring the 21 years of British rule in St Augustine and soon, we will have La Guardia de Noche (Spanish Watch night) complete with a military torchlight parade.


I fell in love with this city the very first time I visited and every week, month and year since I moved here has been filled with more reasons to love it. From our Spanish beginnings and the Native American and African (slave and free) influence to our present day, flavored along the way with Irish, Minorcan, Greek, Scots and British, there is so much diversity to celebrate and we celebrate it all with flair and pride.

One of the really fun activities I've gotten into since I moved to St Augustine is volunteering at the Colonial Spanish Quarter. I met Jenny, the tavern keeper, early on and spent a day polishing candle chimneys and lamp glass. Then I got sidetracked into working in the leather shop with Marko. The Spanish Quarter was peopled with over a dozen folk in colonial garb deeply invested in the history of Spanish St Augustine and passing their knowledge of leatherworking, sewing, cooking, blacksmithing, carpentry, black power guns and life in the 1700s to visitors. To the distress of many, including me, the city decided to close the Quarter to the general public last fall except on Market days (Second Saturday of each month.)  The tavern, however, remained open, and I was fortunate that Jenny welcomed me back to work there. It's a fantastic place to hang out, lit only by candlelight at night. Jenny, Josh and Bill, who are the official tavern keepers are fountains of knowledge about the tavern, Spanish St Augustine, and St Augustine in general. They are all great fun to work with and make even mundane chores like bussing tables and washing glasses enjoyable tasks. We meet folk from all over the country and even other countries who come in for a glass of the best Sangria in town, or for a mug of a local microbrew. Like all the volunteer activities I've done in my life, spending time at Taberna del Gallo turns out to give back far more than I give and I enjoy every minute. For a woman who loves history, it's fantastic that I get to step back in time and live the history I so enjoy reading about. Next best thing to time travel!!