It’s Sunday.  Apart from a few morning shows which update the current US political process, there isn’t much on TV.  Really, it is a good time for reflection.  I am preoccupied with an upcoming opportunity to work with my publishers on my lastest book.  I will be using the time to sell the story.  It would be a dream come true  to see Suspect, Love on the big screen.  Never one to dwell on the future dream when the present calls me to pay attention to details, I have spent days practicing a presentation.  I have had less angst practicing to officiate at huge weddings which occupy most of my summer weekends.  Well….the words I am speaking aren’t mine.  I just have to say them in a meaningful way.  Talking to a stranger about the outpourings of my head and heart is different.

Anyway, I digress in writing just as I do in thought.  My reflections took me to a couple of delightful realizations.  For those who read my fanfiction stories of the modern day Beauty and the Beast, you will know that the handsome young Russian actor, Vasily Stepanov, who made a splash in the movie Inhabited Island as Maxim, is now on facebook and actually talking with fans.  His beautifully planed face in so many poses helps to inspire my character Jacob whose growth from an inexperienced but brilliant young lawyer to man of super strength and power has been a pleasure to chronicle.

Lots of folks who read Fanfic, do so because they want stories of the main characters Vincent and Catherine, but I have said often that I can’t rewrite history, even in fiction.  So Jacob and his wife Cathy pursue their history and their life together in my imagination with some interesting fillers about Jacob’s remarkable parents. As I thought about the young couple,  I was struck by how much they resemble William and Catherine.  There is another pair of role models for further stories.  As handsome as William is, Vasily remains,  hands down, my visual hero.

And, as I work toward feeling comfortable with all the questions I will be asked during my interviews and preparing possible answers, I thought about which story of the thirteen I have penned in the past four years, most epxresses the goals I set for myself as a story teller.  When I started writing, I saw my role as one of story telling rather than professional/technical ‘authoring’ or journalism.  I was trained for neither.  Basically I just wanted to put out the thoughts and feelings of people I meet every day because many are unable to do so for themselves.  ‘Judgement of the Heart’ serves as the best example of a detailed story which meets my personal criteria.

One last point about stories…when there is a dedication at the end of the story, it is a considered decision, based on how much I learned about someone or something during the course of writing and what their sometimes simple contribution in my life has meant to me.