OMG I’m pregnant again! Having been pregnant before, I notice the symptoms immediately. You would think that at this age this wouldn’t happen to me. I admit that I haven’t taken any precautions because…well…I am of a certain age. Still, I feel a new life growing in me and I know that I will nurture it until it is born. Then there is the getting it raised.

My problem with being pregnant again is that I still have three toddlers at home. The twins M’TK Sewer Rat: End of an Empire and M’TK Sewer Rat: Birth of a Nation are driving me up the wall. They grew so big so fast. Now I am trying to separate them for part of the time, which isn’t easy. Still they need to develop separate identities and some level of independence. They will always be twins and I hope they will share friends. They are strong enough, but sometimes they lack the energy we expect of toddlers. I think with some good food and nurturing they will be ready for the excitement of the great big world soon enough, if I do not devote all my time and energy to a new baby.

Unlike the twins, who demand a great deal of energy and cause all sorts of trouble, sweet little Something About Maudy is complacent and happy to wait for my attention. She seems to be happy whatever I do. I confess I ignored Maudy for ten months while pregnant with the twins. She seemed to grow and blossom without much effort. However, she has not spent as much time in the editor’s office as the twins. I fear that if she did get a full examination I would find that she has suffered from the neglect. I still find her occasionally lisping into passive voice. I do spend time in speech therapy with her. I suppose Maudy is like any other child with twins for younger siblings. She has learned to survive with very little nurturing.

Of course, Lies That Bind still requires hours of my attention. As parents we think that getting our children off to school will give us hours of free time, which just isn’t what happens. We have parent/teacher meetings and piano lessons and soccer games. Lies is no different than any other active child. She does reasonably well in school. She seems to play well with others and remains in the top five to ten percent in her class. I am excited about her adventures in Africa. I would like her math scores to be a little higher, but they are good enough. I spend hours on the internet helping Lies make new friends and checking up on her activities to be certain she is getting the experiences to be the best she can be.

Last week, an exploitive pervert accosted Lies That Bind on the playground. At least I strongly suspect that was an exploitive pervert. Another parent alerted me to the presence of an unauthorized person on the playground. I alerted as many parents as I could. One of the fathers started a serious investigation. By the end of the week the father reported to the rest of us that the pervert seemed to have disappeared leaving a forwarding address of 404 Error Street.

So you see, I still have to devote hours and hours of energy to Lies That Bind while the twins run me ragged and I really do need to get dear Maudy ready for the great big world. I just don’t see how I have the time and energy to devote to another pregnancy. However, the symptoms are real. In the back of my mind I have visions of a forest fire and the desolation it leaves behind. I know poor Jeannie is not strong enough to lose everything she owns so soon after losing the love of her life. I worry that facing all this loss and dealing with a corrupt building department at the county level will send her into weeping, screaming hysterics. Will she find someone to help her?

Several weeks ago my husband suggested I watch a TV show with him. The main character was a mystery writer. I thought I might be able to relate. I watched the show. I hated it. The writer was arrogant, rude and self-confident. Ugh.

I suppose there are some real writers out there who are arrogant, rude and self-confident. Most of the writers I’ve met are humble people who are willing to help other writers. We cheer each other on, talk about marketing, suffer with the editing, and wail about proof reading.

You see, writers need to stick together because we all have a common enemy–no, not the publishing industry, something more intractable. We have the computer. Sigh. The computer is a wonderful tool…but…well…I will try to explain using auto-complete as an example.

Many writers turn auto-complete off. I’ve tried turning it off. The problem with turning it off is that I have certain pattern typos that it catches and corrects saving me many, many hours doing corrections. I always type “i” before “e” even after “c.” Auto-complete turns the ie around to ei as needed. Auto-complete corrects my “ent” and “ant” endings. It saves me time.

On the other hand, I was proof reading M’TK Sewer Rat the other day. Jake had taken Leah out to lunch for the first time. This is a tender moment when he describes the woman who makes his heart beat faster. He says, “She wore her hair pulled up on top of her head with a long brain that fell down over her shoulder. The end of her brain rested just above her breast…”

Oh My God!!!! Leah’s brain was coming out of her head!!! No. I went back and tried to change the brain to a braid. I patiently deleted the n and added a d. Oops. Auto-complete really wanted Leah’s brain to fall out of her head. It changed my braid back to a brain. Folks, it took me three tries to get that brain changed to a braid for each use of the word. Will it change back if I manipulate the file again? I don’t know. I will check on it.

This is why I love my real-life writing friends. They know the machines are out to get us. They understand auto-complete. They also understand the problems of describing your work once it is completed and the pain of editing out huge sections of brilliant writing that is wonderful but doesn’t advance the plot, or the setting, or the characterization. They know the frustrations of proof-reading to catch the whimsical creativity of the computer.

Do arrogant, rude, self-confident writers exist? Probably. Would I want to read their books? No. In order to write, we must be human. We must meet on some common ground of basic humanity. Our common ground is the post-industrial world of human vs. machine.

This story starts off with a mature woman, Celia, caring for a husband who has an early onset form of dementia, and immediately demonstrates that the author understands the isolation that home carers can suffer from.

Then the story gets rolling when she has a personal meeting with Jake, the president of an small, unnamed Eurasian nation. They exchange e-mails for a while, then they arrange caretakers for Celia’s husband and farm, and she moves to his nation as a consultant in social services and education, a member of the presidential security detail, and Jake’s lover.

For 800 pages there’s always something happening in at least one of plot lines. Aside from the love story between 2 highly likeable and believable leads, there’s 3 threads about healthcare and social services, one about the politics of Jake’s nation, and one about domestic terrorism.

Frankly, I just plain can’t do Delinda’s writing justice beyond saying “Buy this book now!” and pointing out that of 3 reviews between Amazon US and Amazon UK, there are 2 by men, and all 3 give the book 5* ratings.

Lies That Bind is about love. Love is the one consistent thread that ties the characters together through disaster, disagreements and discomfort. The characters share love when they share a meal together. They share love through their work and daily routines. Sometimes love is expressed through a long-standing joke based on mutual understanding. Always, love is expressed through mutual respect.

Sometimes, the love is as simple as a child making a get-well card for a teacher. Other times, love is giving someone the opportunity to reach for their dreams or to do the things that feed their soul. Love is present when all hope of reciprocation is gone, yet one partner loves on.

Even loving pets spread joy and security through the halls of The Compound where the first families live. The dogs possess an uncanny ability to go where they please leaving behind a trail of love and laughter along with the broken pottery.

Sometimes, or often, in the case of Celia and Jake, the love is passionate and erotic, creating a bond wherein the two become stronger together than they are as separate individuals.

When Jake and Celia are making love, Celia sees her actions as creating waves of love that spread across the city and country healing all ills and bringing joy to its inhabitants. She sees love as healing and creating.

Jake and Celia long for formal commitment and public sanction of their love through marriage. Absolutely everybody around them has this freedom. Yet they, who love each other so deeply, are denied their greatest wish until the lies that divide them are conquered, setting them free.

“What article of your mother’s clothing do you hate the most?”

“Her coat.” My answer sounded vehement. I didn’t pause or stop to consider.

Jake grinned at me.

“How did you do that so quickly? How did you know what question to ask?”

Jake laughed, “I was a prosecuting attorney for years. It is part of what I do to ask the right questions. I could have asked about your mum’s interests and tastes but I know you well enough to know that you can easily hit on the heart of an issue.”

“You know me?”

“Of course, I have been reading your blog and checking in on your website for over two years. I know how you handle questions people ask. I have witnessed your compassion for other’s problems. I recognize your passion…” here Jake stopped and swallowed. “I recognize your passion for helping others. If you buy your mum a gift that you feel passionate about, it will be right.”

February 2012 Update

The award for reading Lies That Bind in the shortest time (two and a half days) goes to Debra from Tacoma WA. She says she loved the book and couldn’t put it down. She confessed that her eyes hurt, but she refused to sleep or eat until she finished the book. It takes me about forty-eight hours to read Lies.

Note to readers: I am very thankful that you really enjoy the book. Put it down occasionally. Get some sleep. Eat. Get some exercise.

For those who want to know more about President Jake, the second draft of his autobiography is finished. I am working on the third draft. I do not yet have the original copy of his Statement of Outrage for the trial of ex-President Vanderholm.

I am also researching the role of the military in adopting the first constitution. On the surface, it appears that the courts made a ruling and everybody who was not arrested in the purge, just followed along. In doing my research I noticed that the seven regional generals had just overruled an order from the emperor. The country was on the edge of a military coup. I suspect that if the southern leaders had ignored the court ruling the military would have moved.

In Jake’s autobiography we learn more about his amazing parents and the power of their love. His papa was a real hero in his corner of the country.

Jake’s mama was a gift from God. She had ten children. Jake was the only survivor. Jake once mentioned to his Uncle John that his father saved the lives of the people of M’TK. His mother gave them dignity and hope.

I wrote a blip about Lies That Bind for an inspirational forum this morning. The forum causes me to think about Lies That Bind from a different perspective. I was delighted to learn something new about my book. I confess to being a little confused about why I, a good girl, wrote a book about adultery. I think I found the answer.

“Celia was raised to be a good girl. Good girls don’t draw attention to themselves. Good girls don’t cry. Good girls don’t demand justice for themselves. Good girls take care of others without complaint. Good girls don’t talk back.

This story is about what happens when one remarkable woman stops being a good girl and becomes an amazing woman.”

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fOEzDP3ZAtM

January 14, 2012

Stories from my signing at Mostly Books in Gig Harbor

I’ve decided I like signings. I had a good turnout for today’s signing despite football on TV and nasty weather. It is going to snow any minute.

Of course I like it when people buy my books, but the best part was getting to visit with people. Two of my grade school friends came. It was good to connect with them. It was interesting that my two school friends fit right in with the people I work with and my extended family.

We discussed a new monitoring system for children with autism that a colleague, Vicki McKinney helped coordinate with the local police. My cousin commented on the value of the system while she was sign interpreting for a friend she brought along. My childhood friend, Melyn told how valuable the system will be for seniors with dementia.

The topic of my next book, M’TK Sewer Rat, came up. I told one story from President Jake’s childhood when he lived in a slum. His first job was trapping rats in a shrimp trap his uncle gave him. He sold the rats to Mr. Wu. At this point in my description of my new book, the bookstore was deadly silent while everybody took in the meaning of what I just said. It was Vicki, who burst out with, “Delinda! Only you!”

The next topic of discussion was the details of my research into eating rats. I explained that I knew the basics of butchering rats and that they would be best if boiled first. My childhood friend Melyn, who once horrified me by trying to treat my scratched leg with spider webs, insisted that I needed to personally test my understanding of butchering and cooking rats.

After my horror over the discussion about me butchering rats I redirected the conversation to my research in Victoria BC. Some of the scenes in Lies That Bind are set in beautiful Victoria BC. I explained that Victoria represents my preferences in research topics. Everybody got a kick out of me finding a real estate company named Pemberton-Holmes. I assured them that I did not make up such a perfect name for my book and that the agent I talked to was extremely helpful in telling me the most likely places for my teenage characters to visit. She was able to direct me to an area of small farms right where I needed one.

I further explained that my research for Lies That Bind included visiting every dress shop in Victoria until I found the perfect dress for my heroine to wear to a dinner party. Of course I had to buy the dress. I may need to visit Connie’s Petites frequently during my research for my third book about Jake and Celia.

I am thankful for the opportunity to connect with some old friends and meet some new friends while being able to talk about books.

Announcing Signing

Who: Delinda McCann
What: Will be signing Lies That Bind
Where: Mostly Books
3126 Harborview Drive
Gig Harbor, Wa
(253)851-3219

When: 11:00 AM –1:00PM, Satuday Jan. 14, 2012
How: With a pen
Why: In order to see my friends and have a party

New Years day, I spent the day with my college roomie. Her mother came to see us. I was worried that this 87 y/o strict Catholic woman might disapprove of Lies That Bind because of the adultery. She loved the book and kept asking me what Celia’s favorite swear word was. I repeated, “fecking batshit crazy.” Roomie’s mom would say, I have to remember that so I can use it.