White-water rafting – a real gas!

Riding “the Boxcar”

This past weekend, I indulged in a get-away activity I’ve been looking forward to for months. And I wasn’t disappointed.

I signed up for the “all-day” option on the gorgeous Deschutes River in north central Oregon. The river was enchanting, with quiet stretches where bird calls were the predominant music along with the quiet gurgling of the water along the shore. At one point we spotted an Osprey nest with three youngun’s waiting for parental returns with food. Then came the sound of impending rapids as we approached just before we shot through the white water to shouts of laughter and occasional yelps of surprise when we were drenched with the bracing river water.

Should you have an opportunity to raft the beautiful Deschutes River, go for it! I know I’ll sign up again!

Gratefulness to “background” experts

The end of June has been all about how thrilling it’s been to see my first two titles available as e-books. At the same time, I am so grateful to the many people who have served as background consultants when I’ve had questions about the accuracy of certain elements in those titles and the ones to come.

Specifically… I feel the need–almost daily–to thank these people. I so appreciate their willingness to answer my questions, sometimes too numerous to dare to ask in a single email, and to refrain from laughing when I ask what has to be a really simple, perhaps even ludicrous, question.

So, to all them, here goes: THANK YOU! (and yes, I mean to be shouting so they can hear me from many miles away)

Jeanne – my favorite nurse consultant; Pat and Jim – my police consultants, who are so good about distinguishing between very urban forces and those found in small towns; Terry and Kathryn – my beta-readers, editors, and cheerleaders; website and epubbing cheerleaders Pam and Karen; Roberta and Montrew, each of whom dared to read very early drafts, suffering along with me, when I realized how much I needed to go back and start over on many scenes; Jim and John, each of them extraordinarily generous physicians with their time in answering questions, both general and specific; Laura and all the other cancer survivors who preferred to remain anonymous, but who shared often very painful experiences with me–I was happy to share my tears with them;  the many realtors who served as “models” for certain characters in my three-book series (not yet ready for publication); and Joy, whose experience with Hospice and step-parenting was a real godsend.

I know I’m forgetting others, and to them, I beg forgiveness. I’ll update the above list as soon as my memory improves.

Please know that any errors of presentation are my own and not that of the many consultants whose expertise and advice I have sought.

Writing may be a solitary activity, but it can never be said that it involves only the author.