notes from the war zone

The thirty-
first of December in the Neth-
erlands is a growing crescendo of bombard-
ments from mid-
morning until well after midnight when fire crackers go off on every street to ring in the new year.

The explosions have gone off intermittently all day long across our city of Almere. We've garaged our car and kept our cats safely indoors. Tonight we'll deep fry 'oliebollen,' the precursor of doughnuts, the traditional fried doughballs, filled with raisins and currants or plain and covered in powdered sugar, eaten on Dec. 31st.

The above photo is not of Almere, but of Groningen, a beautiful university town in the very north of the Netherlands not far from the German border. I recently visited it.

I wish you all a blessed 2008! Happy writing and reading.

Finished the Book!

Whew! Another manuscript completed. Boy, did this one give me trouble. I just couldn't get the ending to work right. But, after numerous rewrites and overhauls of the entire manuscript, by George, I think I've got it!

We'll see after my editor has a chance to read it.

Now, to collapse for a few days and let my brain recover.

The good news is that in this time of fretting over a manuscript whose deadline was looming, I got some very strong ideas for two new books. The story arc just came flowing in the wee hours of the morning and I had to turn on my light and jot them down. It was like viewing a movie in a lot of ways. Praise God for that gift of inspiration. I rejoice in that gift.