Into the Fire

I bought that hat in a lady's hat shop in Denmark. I wore it all the time, loved it. You can see my Longacres Barn Pass on it so I could get in and out of the barn area where Longacres' veteran racetrackers will recognize I worked for Bill Cummings at Barn 4B. I'm driving a '65 Le Mans convertible, yellow with a black top, nicknamed "Loretta". I was buying it from my folks – it was my mom's car. 

Father, thank you for your patience. You waited until I emptied myself of me and then you rescued me. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

There's a point when it actually gets to us authors where we have to talk ourselves off the ledge of either being empty of words or having stacked too many things together to meet a personal goal – and it's not even close to working. The advice pictured above is simply a reminder that "something" is better than nothing although many of us would be hard-pressed to believe that something randomly thrown onto a page will be worth anything of value. We want to be "in the flow" where few things can distract us from a scene or dialogue – where everything's working and we're smiling as our fingers hit the keys as fast as we're able. 

But then we hit a wall. A lapse. The time tick-tocks away with no words, and this unsettled feeling encroaches on our peaceful assurance that it's just a break. We needed it after all. Right? Well, all the little justifications for that break don't work for long. And, although we're itching to get back to it, we seem to have this compelling drive to do anything else but write. 

Sometimes, it really is the fact that we need to take a break, freshen up, reread, and overall relax. That story isn't going anywhere without us and we'll get back to it shortly. Other times, we just need to use what little discipline we have and stare at the screen until we type a few words to get going again. 

Or we can write blog posts like this hoping it will inspire other authors to share their grievances in the creative process . . . Anyone? . . .

Father, you know exactly what's going on even when I don't. Help me to do what you have for me to do. Please. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

Once calling themselves Jefferson Airplane, they "graduated" to Jefferson Starship. Still produced great music for the era. I think most people remember the voice of Grace Slick when thinking of this group. 

Father, you know each one of us from the inside out, knit us together in our mothers' wombs. Only you can save us. May our hearts always be turned to you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Those of you who know me are familiar with my primary reading choices: thrillers, mystery, and suspense. Authors who write thrillers have much to write about these days. Those that I read have incredible "inside" sources because their novels turn out to be slightly, if not actually, prophetic. As those fans of Vince Flynn's and later Kyle Mills' stories will tell you, it seems their sources were infallible. 

Which brings me to my lesser favorite genres, but I read them from favorite authors. The two genres are Cozy Mysteries and Women's Fiction. If those are your favorite genres, then let me just tell you about four great authors tackling the production of several very good books in those categories. Cozy Mysteries: Karen Kaufman, Heather Day Gilbert (both of whom also write in multi-genres); Women's Fiction: Brenda S. Anderson and Normandie Fischer (Normandie tackles most of her work with a southern flair). Highly Recommend you visit these authors for your pure reading pleasure! And one more thing: If you enjoy their work, tell your friends and mention them in your social media circles. You have no idea how much that helps authors. 

Now about what I actually write: Love stories with a passion. And one mystery. Go figure. It's who I am. If you're a romance lover and a love story fan, my novels are love stories heavy on the romance. Footnote: I write Christian Fiction so there's a redemptive element in my Raw Romantic Redemptive collection. 

Read fervently. And buy lots of novels for Christmas gifts! 

Lord, thank you for writing. I love it. Please anoint my stories. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

     One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

Revelation 21:9-14 (NIV)

Fastrope by L.T. Ryan and Fiona Ryan is the 10th novel in the A Rachel Hatch Novel Series.

(I've been really upset with L.T. Ryan for what he did to Hatch. Very upset. And now that Savage has a series of his own, I refuse to read it. At least for now.) 

Anyway, Hatch is home with her family when she receives an unusual phone call from an old military friend who sounds like he's in trouble but decides not to elaborate and is gone. The call disturbs her, and she decides to head out to see if she can determine what's up with him. She uses her boss (Tracy) with the private security/ops company she's worked for to help her locate his address. When she arrives, it's a gut-punch to see the full-dress uniformed marines standing outside his home. 

What she learns by chance about a recent event where a drug dealer and his son were murdered by a group that's been hitting dealers and robbing them, she's pulled into the investigation and talks to a scared witness (Sophie) and a temporarily suspended female detective (Santiago) with whom she gains mutual respect for surmising there's someone "dirty" coordinating this. 

Hatch hates to assume the worst of her friend, but when she spends meaningful time with his grieving widow, they put their heads together and start to figure out some of the weirdness going on. Hatch is no stranger to chaos, and in no time flat after figuring out what's going on, she and Santiago face serious trouble.  

With the call signs of the culprits engaged, it's tricky to figure out who's who, but it all becomes clear at some point. With Tracy's insistence and assistance, things go as planned. 

As usual, this Hatch story is as complex as others in the series and just as dangerous. She assesses herself as better when she's in the fight for what's right, and this time is no exception. 

I highly recommend the Rachel Hatch Series. She's my favorite female protagonist next to Sibella Giorello's Raleigh Harmon. Hatch is scarred physically and emotionally, and still she's tough as nails. Fastrope is a good entry to the series. 

Father, you know hearts. Only you save souls. Please continue to shine your face upon L.T. and give him what he needs to write the stories he wants to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Thinking back to my first novel Hope of Glory, I remember the prayer I said to the Lord and His very clear response: "I want you to write a Christian novel about horse racing." Succinct. Plain. His voice. The result of that was a saga, 700+ pages which took 8 and 1/2 years to write, produced by a start-up vanity press with little experience. The book is of course too long, amateurish, with some good writing, some not so great, and, yes, it would be much shorter, better written, and more professionally done if I wrote it today. But, I'm not ashamed of it because, if it does nothing else it captures the backstretch life of many racetrackers who make their way to the track one way or another. Through relatives, relationships, or seeking a life around horses as I did, all kinds of people show up working on the backside (barn area) to make horse racing tick. 

A key component in the novel is the worldly side of relationships established between the different layers of people who work in horse racing. When creating characters, my desire has always been to make them come alive, to seem real, like you either know them or know someone like them. That part of my writing appears in all of my novels. 

I will admit to the fact that in some parts of Hope of Glory the story can definitely get what unbelievers refer to as "preachy". Because of the minutia of details in the novel (yes, many of which could've and should've been eliminated), the "Christian" parts of the story are never vague. 

The point I want to make here on this "Wednesday Wanderings" post is this: I write real. Occasionally, that unfortunately offends some Christian readers. This results in a particular audience for my work that might not be the mainstream Christian reader who favors stories with that "Clean Fiction" label which, for me, is an oxymoron in Christian Fiction. Anyway, I certainly don't consider my work "unclean", but it takes a hard look at the world to contrast it to "the way, the truth, and the life" that is Jesus Christ. 

Raw  Romantic  Redemptive   . . .    I write love stories with a passion.  

Father, thank you for the words, the inspiration, the characters, the stories. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Before you get ideas that I'm celebrating Halloween with this number, let me tell you: I'm not. I have zero use for Halloween. None. It's a wicked "holiday". But some people try to make the best or most of it. This is a trio of songs from the Classic IV, and they were all good ones back in the day. So. Enjoy the music. 

Father, you know hearts, minds, souls. Only you save souls. Thank you for rescuing mine. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Romeo's Justice by James Scott Bell is Book 8 in the A Mike Romeo Thriller Series. 

Mike Romeo isn't looking for trouble, but if it comes to him, after trying to calm and distill it, he will finally decide to "bring it". In his quest for justice as his friend, attorney, rabbi, and former Mossad Ira Rosen's investigator, nothing is ever simple in their cases. Romeo's attempt to render justice often comes with violence interfering with his hard work. And their present case is no exception. 

A grieving mother who can't afford Ira Rosen has been told that her only son (Steven) has committed suicide in his room at a "spiritual" school that is clearly of the "woke" variety, making environmental robots of students with their man-made climate change dogma and other freakish "spiritual" gobbledy-gook theories. Ira insists on taking her case and Romeo sets out in his classic Mustang "Spinoza" to either confirm or deny that the boy killed himself.

His welcome to the school is "interesting" and he asks to see the dorm room where Steven was found. During his inspection he meets the janitor who appears to be handicapped, scared, and nervous. Romeo does his best to put him at ease.   

New leads pop up resulting in some more violence and back to Square One, but finally after Ira doing his "thing" with his research, a real lead starts to actually lead somewhere. Perhaps to a kind of justice?  

The Romeo Series is labeled a thriller, and there are definitely parts of these stories that are matched with that genre. However, there is yet to have a genre label to fit these amazing stories. Maybe "Sardonic Thrillers" or "Witty Noir Investigative Thrillers". I know: ridiculous. But the absolute wit and intellect of James Scott Bell shines to the max in these books, especially between him and Ira. I've read hundreds of thrillers, mystery, suspense, procedurals, and no author I've read can come close to duplicating their repartee in these novels. Romeo is as unique a character as can be found in any story, any era. And the only fault I can list in these stories is the moment I finish one of them, I can't wait for the next one which can't quite get here soon enough with Jim's multiple other writing diversions. 

Highly Recommend. Although each novel is essentially a "stand-alone", to get the ultimate experience of Mike Romeo's story, I do strongly suggest you begin with Book 1. Believe me when I say, they're quick reads and well worth the time it takes.

Father, you've blessed James so incredibly. Please continue to shine your face upon him and fill him up with the stories you have just for him to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.