Gemini Rising

Merit Badges, a flat tire, Princess Di, and a chara. profile

Hi, all! I had Thurs/Fri off and let me tell you, it's been busy! I just went through my subscriptions of WDC newletters, and I every week I award one or two newsletter writers a merit badge. Why?

Heck, writing a newsletter isn't easy and it requires a lot of work & research. I edit the Drama newsletter myself and in order for me to put out a quality newsletter I dedicate a good amount of time to it. That said, when I award a badge, I'll post a note here. This week's newsletter merit badges went to:

Starr Phenix for a great Romance/Love newsletter about "alpha" female/male roles in romance writing.

Elisa the Bunny Stik for a fabulous Contest/Activties newsletter about the importance of judges for a contest. My contests, "BEST OF THE REST," and "SHOW OFF YOUR BEST AT THE SANDBOX" would not be as successful as they without the support of my judges. It was nice to see a newsletter about that.

Well, yesterday, as I was driving back from Costco I got a flat tire about 3-5 miles from my house. Thankfully I was able to get off the freeway and pull off to the side of the road in a safe location, but I had my two kids with me, 11 months, and 5 years. I called AAA who quoted me 50 minutes. Sigh... It was hot yesterday - 111 degrees on the car's tempature gage. Joseph (11 months) got really red in the face. I did too. Andrew, thankfully, held up well. The AAA guy came in 35 minutes - thank God, and put the spare tire on in no time. I got us home and Joseph got a bottle & a rocking. Then Andrew and I proceeded to drink a bottle of cold Arrowhead water. Anyway, the 4Runner needs new tires now which sucks, yet it's due. I've got 47,000 on it and I drive it like a fiend so it's time....Sigh...there's just no rest for the wicked.

I just want to say today is the 10 year anniversary of Princess Diana, and I wanted to talk about that for a little bit. I was 12 or 13 when she married Prince Charles and I remember thinking how cool is that? She married a Prince and she's totally cool. She's a Kindergarten teacher! But the marriage was complicated and complex and within ten years it had broken down. Still, I admired Diana. Especially when she admited to the buliema. It made her so...human. To me, I easily identified with her.

I was in stationed in Hungary on a 90 day deployment to Operation Joint Guard on 31 August 1997. In fact, I remember being in the chow hall where they had a TV on and that's how I heard about her death. I can't begin to describe the saddness I felt, I just felt like I'd lost a friend. My heart went out to her sons. Today, Princes William & Harry are fine men and I think she'd be proud of them. Anyway, I just wanted remember Diana today. She touched a place in my heart few public figures do.

Now, I wanted to continue my look at characters, so I thought I'd offer up a couple of insights and tidbits to my character, Corporal Sharon Cates, from my novel, "Destination: Berlin."

Sharon Cates has high expectations of herself. She joined the army not because she got an enlistment bonus or because of the Army G.I. Bill, she joined so she could come to know that part of her father's life that he wouldn't talk about. It's a reason she won't devulge to just anyone.

Sharon's pretty much a model soldier. She excells in her fitness tests and does well on the board. She's received a couple of awards. Because of her performance, she's promoted and given a chance to go to Berlin to participate on the Berlin Orientation Tour.

Her personal life is a mess since she's neglected it. Her boyfriend can't stand her professional focus and it eventually drives a wedge in their relationship. Sharon maybe a good soldier, but she has a non-exisistant private life.

On the way to Berlin, the duty train derails and Sharon discovers she had top secret material on her that the Stasi and KGB are willing to kill her for. This is truly a test of her military mettle as she makes her way across East Germany, hunted by the enemy.

Destination:Berlin is an action/adventure story with a female soldier in the lead role. If you read it, I hope you find Sharon Cates interesting.