Memorial Day Thoughts
Current mood: thoughtful

Memorial Day is a day to remember all those who have gone before. We remember family members who served in the military, friends who died in Vietnam, other friends who returned but were never the same physically or mentally, those currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today is a day for giving thanks for all the blessings living in the United States affords us. And it is a day to feel the loss of those no longer with us.

Earlier this year we lost Virgil Thomas who was Larry's best man. He was also his college buddy and surfing pal. For over twenty-five years he disappeared from our lives. We tried to locate him for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary but were unable to find him. Just before we left for Japan, Lorna hired an investigator in one last attempt to find him. Success! Virg arrived on Larry's birthday in 1998 as a surprise. That was the best gift he'll ever receive. The three of us spent all evening and into the wee hours of the following morning reminiscing. He stayed the night and left after breakfast the next morning. We stayed in touch during our time in Japan, and Virg visited us several times in the intervening years. We stopped by to see him as well, even though we lived several hundred miles apart. Then, just before Christmas, we learned that he had terminal cancer. It was with great sadness that we were informed of his death on January 2 of this year. We were delighted when his widow chose a photo from that memorable birthday weekend in 1998 for his obituary page. Why does he come to mind today? Because he was one of those who went to Vietnam and were never quite the same when he returned. He did have a life filled with the kinds of activities he loved: building and racing cars and boats. From the comments of those who knew him, he was a good friend to all. We are grateful today that he returned from the jungles of Vietnam and returned to our lives. Although he is now gone, we have precious memories of our last few meetings.

Luanna and Len Rugh's book, Promises Kept, should be published at the end of the summer. Keep an eye out for it. You'll learn a great deal about the experience of being in that miserable war, of recovering from devastating wounds received there, and finally making a life – not the life they expected, but one filled with friends and family, joy and love.

Memorial Day is about remembering. And we do remember. We do.

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New Book
Current mood: ecstatic
Category: News and Politics

Lorna's new book, an anthology called Snowflake Secrets, has been moved up for publication from May to February! What a nice Valentine's Day gift! This was her brainchild, but three other authors contributed novellas to the project. Christie Shary and Luanna Rugh, both fellow members of Lagunita Writers Group, and Sherry Derr-Wille wrote terrific novellas to bring the book to life. It's "chick lit." and filled with romance, fantasy and inspiration. Whiskey Creek Press decided that a winter book should be published in the winter. It's been really hectic trying to get everything done within the speeded-up timeframe, but we're nearly there!

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Birthday Thoughts
Current mood: peaceful

   The 24th was my birthday. This wasn't a "biggie," but last year was. And I didn't handle it well.
   The number was overwhelming. I kept thinking, That's old! I can't be that old!
   I've always said, "Considering the alternative, I'll take every day I get." And I still mean it. My dad died at 37, grandmother at 26, great-grandmother at 28, grandfather at 54… They either die very young or live to be quite old. I guess I'm past very young…
   We went to see Josh Groban last night as part of my birthday present. Great concert. Two moments made it more than worth the cost of the tickets.
   First, he came down to the end of the runway on the apron of the stage and sat down. Security let all the fans crowd around him. (Looked a little dangerous to me, but he has pretty respectful fans, and these might have been chosen deliberately.) Then he spotted someone holding a little blonde girl, about three-years-old. He asked if she wanted to sit on the stage with him. When she was in place, he said, "Great. You can sign all the autographs on that side." (He was autographing programs as he spoke.) His next song was a particular favorite of ours because it carries quite a bit of emotional baggage, Stephen Sondheim's Not While I'm Around. Josh sang it to the child, and it was very moving.
   He finished the concert with You're a Machine. Good song, but no closure. Then he came back and did another. For the third, he sang You Raise Me Up, another song which always makes me cry. My cheeks were soaked by the time he finished, but they were good tears.
   I'd had more of the same earlier in the day when I opened a friend's blog.
   Emily Yeskoo is the daughter of friends we met in Japan. She was diagnosed four years ago with a fatal form of muscular dystrophy and was not expected to survive two years ago. But she' still hanging on. Her mother, Lindsey, writes a blog for her to keep us all informed. http://emily.quist.ca/. We have been praying for her and the family ever since she was diagnosed.
   I had also asked our church Prayer Chain www.sjcpres.com to be in prayer for Ryanne Wheeler, the baby daughter of a fellow who works with me. She has been having seizures and is currently on medication which seems to be working.
   At lunch about a week ago, we were talking about how Ryanne was doing and someone else, who is part of the prayer group at work, asked about Emily. The light bulb went on: Both of them were being treated at the "Children's Hospital" in Toronto! So I fired off an email to Emily's and Ryanne's parents, telling them they should meet. God was pretty insistent about this one!
   Ryanne's dad has been trying for nearly two years to get a resident visa for his wife, Martina, so that she and their daughter can stay here with him. Emily's dad, is with the American Consulate in Toronto! I was reading Emily's blog for August 24 (my birthday) and came across this:

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Borders Event Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the big day! We're appearing at Borders in Tustin for the Grand Opening celebration. We're the opening act for Wyland!

 We'll be taking part in a panel discussion on How to Travel the World Without Being the Ugly American. Joining us will be two other Lagunita Writers authors, Christie Shary and Margie Taylor. We're excited about being able to take part in an event which should be well-attended and (hopefully) create more name recognition.

 Getting ready for this thing, however, has taken time away from writing. Our second mystery, Murder in Paradise, is only about half completed. As soon as this is over, we need to buckle down and get it finished. Our first one, Murder … They Wrote, is under consideration for publication. All fingers and toes are crossed. Both of ours!

 Len and Luanna Rugh's book, Promises Kept: From Tragedy to Triumph, has been submitted again. Lots of prayers going out for publication of that one too. Len's given over twenty years of his life to it. Lu's spent about eight. And it's a great book.

 Most of our time is spent working … and working. Can't wait for retirement!

 Wish us luck tomorrow.

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Spring, Anniversaries and Possibilities

Today is Cinco de Mayo. Contrary to popular mythology, it is NOT Mexican Independence Day; it commemorates the Mexican Army's defeat of French forces on May 5, 1862, in the Battle of Puebla. But it is a great excuse for a party. And here in the Southwest, we love to party.

My favorite word is possibilities. (Okay, I stole it from Sunday in the Park with George, but I do love it.) Spring seems to be the time which most promises possibilities. Today the temperature is in the 70s with a bit of a breeze. It's a pretty typical day for this area. But the flowers are blooming and the skies are blue. I drove home topless last week. (No, it's not what you think. I had the top down on my convertible.)

There are so many possibilities in our lives right now. Our agent submitted our mystery Murder … They Wrote to a great publisher on Friday. All fingers and toes are crossed for that.

Three other gals and I are writing an anthology called Snowflake Secrets. We are all living in the parallel universe of our characters. One of the others, Sherry Derr-Wille has already completed hers! My excuse is that I have the Prologue and Epilogue as well as one of the novellas, and I'm sticking to it! The "bookends" are in their working form (that means, finished unless they need tweaking depending on the other gals' stories). My own novella is about one third finished. L.J. Rugh's is further along than mine. But Christie Shary's is at the beginning. We already have a publisher for this one thanks to Sherry. It's even scheduled for publication next May! You'll love it. The Epilogue even made Larry cry.

Of course, that may have been because it deals with the death of a mother and last week was the anniversary of my mother-in-love's death. I've posted some tributes which were given at her memorial on our website www.lornalarry.com.

The Rugh's book, Promises Kept: From Tragedy to Triumph was, as Lu says, "dejected." So we have all decided to take a break from that project for a little while. It is such a great book, it deserves to be published. And you all deserve to share it! All in good time.

So start the mariachi music, and let's celebrate this glorious day!

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Keep Writing
Current mood: cheerful

It's been quite a week!

On Wednesday our friend, Leonard Rugh, pushed the Sent button and his 20-year project winged its way to the publisher through the magic of email. (Our friend, Bob, thinks it's done by Menehunes.) The book, entitled Promises Kept: From Tragedy to Triumph, tells the story of his time in Vietnam, being shot in the head by an AK-47, his dire prognosis and slow recovery, the faithfulness, encouragement and support of his wife, Luanna, and the miracles they have been blessed with. Lu joined in the writing of the book after about 14 years, and her additions make it even more compelling. But the real story is that he believed for over thirty years that he had been responsible for the deaths of his entire platoon, only to discover they weren't dead!

This book is such a good story you'd find it hard to believe if it weren't true. You can link to a photo of Len and Lu on our website www.lornalarry.com. Click the link to Lagunita Writers Group. They are in the Writers Gallery.

We've spent many months meeting with them to get the original nearly 1300-page manuscript edited down to its curent 565 pages - including the front material, glossary and author bios. For all four of us, this is another truimph!

Then Luanna agreed to become the fourth writer of a Christmas anthology, Snowflake Secrets, which has been a dream of mine since last fall. EPPIE and other award winners Christie Shary and Sherrie Derr-Wille had already agreed to write two of the novellas. I'm doing the tird. We originally asked Debbie Fritter (another wonderful writer) to do the fourth, but serious surgery prevented her from the commitment. (Hope you're recovering well, Debbie!) Award-winning watercolorist and co-author of the much-praised Art of the American West, Julie Christiansen-Dull was going to take on the project, but felt she didn't have the time to commit to it. (Julie has six granddaughters with whom she wants to spend her time!) She's also a member of Lagunita Writers Group.

Now that the Vietnam epic is on its way, Luanna decided she would do the fourth novella. And she's already written more than I have! Keep an eye out for it. We have high hopes for this romance/fantasy/inspirational book!

Larry is out surfing - as usual - so I have a few minutes before we need to get back to our new mystery Murder in Paradise. This is the sequel to Murder...They Wrote, our first mystery. It's curently with Belinda Williams who is looking for a publisher for it.

So our obsession with wrting continues. we're still looking forward to the day we can retire and do it full time!

Hope you have a blessed weekend!

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Promises Kept: From Tragedy to Triumph

On Friday I had the joy of sending off an email message: "It is finished." It was appropriate that it was Good Friday.

Our friend, Leonard Rugh, began writing his Vietnam memoir nearly twenty years ago. He took an AK-47 round to his head while serving there. No one, especially his doctors, believed he would survive the massive head injury he received. No one thought he'd ever be more than a vegetable if he did survive. And certainly no one believed he would ever walk or talk, father a child, graduate from college or lead a normal life. No one, that is, except his wife.

They had been married less than two years when he was drafted. But she had faith that he not only would survive, but that they could build a new life together, despite his handicaps.

Nearly fourteen years after beginning his book, Len discovered that his basic premise of what happened the fateful day he was wounded had been completely wrong. Thus began the quest to discover the truth.

Until that time, his wife, Luanna, had not read any of his manuscript, not wanting to influence him. However, it became clear that both of them needed to write the second part of the book about his recovery.

Larry and I have spent the past six months or so meeting weekly with the Rughs to cut the original nearly 1300 pages down to a publishable length of approximately 550. I just completed the final mechanical edit. WHEW!

They will be submitting the book to a publisher this week. This is an inspiring and memorable work. We'll let you know when it is available. Don't miss it!

Lorna

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Maundy Thursday
Current mood: pensive

Today is Maundy Thursday, a day which normally calls for introspection.

Okay, my greatest guilt at the moment is that yesterday was Larry's birthday, and I didn't get him a gift. Oh, I got him a card and suggested several things I thought he might like. And he rejected all my ideas.

He finally let me get him a new pair of "webbies." For the uninitiated, these are surfing gloves with webs between the fingers which help with paddling. Not a large investment.

I've been after him to get the hood and bumper repaired on his PT Cruiser woodie. Unfortunately "Snubby" has had several run-ins with others - not his fault at all - which have left him with some cosmetic imperfections. I'd like to see him restored to his original attractiveness, or something close. Larry is now considering aftermarket grilles and bumpers... Knowing his normal decision-making process, he may decide in time for Christmas.

So I still don't have a gift for him that I'm happy with. Oh well...

For those who aren't familiar with church liturgy, Maundy Thursday commemorates the last evening Jesus spent with his disciples in the Upper Room. Our church typically commemorates this date with a service featuring music and communion.

Tomorrow is Good Friday when many churches also have services. These are usually solemn and end in darkness. (At least ours have.)

Sunday is Easter and we'll be having whichever of the family members are in the area for brunch. My mother now lives in a nursing home, and after bringing her here for Christmas, we decided we're not going to do it any more. She's wheelchair-bound and, although she only weighs about 100 pounds, she's dead weight. Larry strained his back trying to get her into the car the last time. She's senile, and ten minutes after we took her back, she'd forgotten she was even here. So we'll go by and see her in the afternoon.

Fortunately we still have Larry's dad with us. He's 90 and going strong! Since his sister lived to 101-1/2, we expect him to go at least that long. He's amazing!

So, I'll spend the evening pondering my shortcomings.

Hope you have a lovely time.

Lorna

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Update on the Illness

I still have the cough - and the clogged up ears. I'm wondering if I'll ever get over this stuff. Oh well, maybe someday...

Tonight we will be working on our friends' book. It's been over 20 years in the writing, and we have been working with them on the final (we hope!) edit for several months. Every Wednesday night, one of us cooks, we eat together then spend a couple of hours doing a consensus audit. We are getting very close to sending it to the publisher.

This is a FABULOUS book entitled Promises Kept: From Tragedy to Triumph by Leonard and Luanna Rugh.We'll let you know when it's published.

Guess I'd better get things ready for tonight.

Take care and think happy thoughts!

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EPICon 2007

We spent last weekend attending EPICon 2007, the convention for EPIC. It was great - except I got deathly ill. Here's the chronology:
March 1 - It started with a sore throat and congestion. I stayed home from work, hit the Zicam and DayQuil and slept nearly all day.
March 2 - Same as the 1st.
March 3 - Attended a precious friend's memorial service. I read one of the eulogies. I think the stress of her death plus three more in the preceding two weeks may have weakened my immune system. (You can read the eulogy on our website www.lornalarry.com .)
March 4 – Stayed in bed all day. More Zicam and DayQuil.
March 5 – Still more medication until I could get in to see the doctor. Yep, it was a flu strain which wasn't included in the flu shot I got in the fall. Sturdy antibiotics and cough medicine – and rest.
March 6 –Antibiotics and cough medication. By afternoon, I was feeling a bit better and decided I was okay to fly to Virginia Beach.
March 7- We flew out of John Wayne at 9:00 a.m. I was okay until we landed in St. Louis when my hearing went. We had a 2-hour layover there during which my ears finally cleared. Arrived in Norfolk in the late afternoon. On that landing, I lost my hearing completely. It's still not completely back a week and a half later.
March 8 – I was still taking antibiotics and though they may have been the reason I was rather nauseated. I was hoping that a little breakfast might help. We were in the elevator going back up to our room when I realized I was about to pass out. Larry managed to get me out of the elevator where I lay down on the marble floor until I felt a little better. (Several of the EPIC folks were concerned about me, and for that I thank them.)
Larry helped me to bed. Then he spent the rest of the day covering both our commitments to help set up and work in the bookstore. While he was gone, I got even more nauseated. I spent the afternoon in the bathroom alternating between chills and drenching sweats. I lost a lot of fluid. However, by about 4:30 I thought the worst had passed and decided to go ahead and attend the book signing at Barnes & Noble that evening. (Did I mention that one of the side effects of this strain of flu was to wipe out all semblance of logic?)
The event itself was extremely good. Because he wasn't sure I could stand for any length of time, Larry did the reading I was scheduled for. He read the chapter on the 'naked' statue from our book 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park. He was amplified, and we could hear him even from some distance where we were manning the signing tables. We could also hear lots of laughter, so we could tell there was quite a crowd. As a result, we sold several books and a couple of other people said they'd have B&N order them a copy later.
Sherrilyn Kenyon was the big draw, and B&N had done lots of publicity ahead of time, so the place was packed. I was still feeling a bit weak, but the event was worthwhile.
March 9 – I woke at 3:00 to go to the bathroom. I remember reaching for the light switch. The next thing I recall was Larry helping me up from where I was wedged between the toilet and the tub. I made it back to bed and slept until the alarm went off. The night before, Marilyn Meredith had speculated that I might be suffering from hypoglycemia. Since I hadn't eaten much the day before, I decided I should get something to eat.
A little breakfast helped, and we were able to get to the morning sessions I had wanted to attend. Then came the keynote luncheon. There were some problems with the sound, but it was worth the wait. Sherrilyn Kenyon was the keynote, and what a dynamite speaker she is!
After lunch, we rested a bit, then prepared for our first session called Don't Cheat the Reader. The hotel had changed the locations of the classrooms, and none of the venues were really adequate for the PowerPoints we had prepared. At least this one had a wall to project it on – although it was papered in a beige pattern so the colors looked strange, to say the least!
This was our favorite of the two sessions we were presenting, and it went very well. We rested again until dinner time. The meal was shared with some new friends. And that's the best thing about this convention – everyone is friendly and fun to be around.
March 10 – I was feeling really lousy. I was coughing a lot and it felt like bronchitis. So after breakfast we located a walk-in clinic. They took some tests and determined that I had a severe sinus infection and bronchitis. (The doctor seemed a bit surprised that I had figured it out muself.) More drugs – a different antibiotic, decongestant and heavy-duty cough syrup.
We went to Burger King for lunch while we waited for the prescriptions to be filled. Then we returned to set up for our second presentation called Critique Partners and Writing Groups. Again a problem with the PowerPoint. This time there were no walls, only windows with shades lowered, but still quite light. Lisa tried her darndest to figure out a solution. Larry finally decided the easiest way to show the presentation was to project it onto the ceiling. After a slow start, the presentation itself went off without a hitch. But we ran late and missed an editor appointment.
Again, I was scheduled to do a reading during the eFiesta, but by this time I was losing my voice. So, once again, Larry took over. And did a great job.
We rested again until it was time for the banquet and awards ceremony. This meal was exceptionally good. The food was delicious and served beautifully.
As he does every year, Jeff Strand, Master of Ceremonies for Life, had us laughing until we hurt while introducing the EPPIE winners. It was a wonderful and memorable evening and worth all the physical misery I went through to attend.
Following the ceremony, one of the publishers sponsored an 80s themed party that we heard went on until the wee hours. We had a very early flight in the morning, so returned to our room, did some packing and got everything ready for an early departure. I took some of the cough medication and it knocked me out.
March 11 – The good thing about the cough medicine was that I slept well for the first time in over a week. So did Larry. The downside was that I remained groggy for the rest of the day.
Once we were at altitude, my ears cleared, but on landing, they were clogged again.
We got home in the early evening and went straight to bed. The time difference really got to us.
March 12 – Another day in bed. Medication, sleep, coughing.
March 13 – More of the same…
March 14 – I still wasn't feeling well, but had to get back to work. Felt lousy all day. And of course, I worked an extra-long day.
March 15 – Same as the day before. Another long day.
March 16 – TGIF. Lots of work, but by late afternoon I thought I just might live.

EPICon was a great convention – what I got to experience of it. It's the most fun of the writing ones we've attended. The people are friendly and terrific to be around. So, it you're e-published, join EPIC and plan on attending EPICon 2008 in Portland!

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