Christine McKellar

“It was the 28th of November, that day I’ll always remember…cuz that was the day that my daddy died.”

I lost my father on Thanksgiving Day November 28, 1991. For several years I couldn’t eat turkey in any way shape or form. I was fully aware it was psychological. (Most likely my aversion to raw tomatoes is psychological too!) But, I couldn’t abide the smell or taste or texture of the traditional bird.

This year Thanksgiving falls on November 26. I actually like the way holidays bounce around on the calendar. Every so often my birthday falls on Easter Sunday. The last time it did, 2005, I broke my ankle at the stroke of midnight and spent Easter Sunday/birthday with my sister, Cathy, in the Emergency Room at St. Rose de Lima Hospital in Henderson. HOPPY Birthday was my mantra that day.

Death is as normal and as constant as birth and every human since time began suffers both. Some of us, however, seem to be plagued with losses at holidays. I have a litany of those losses: Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, and St. Patrick’s Day. That some choose, are chosen, or simply exit on or near holidays or special occasions certainly doesn’t detract from the loss of other loved ones.

While we are all doomed to die we are not destined to decay. This holiday season think about what you can do to maintain your health and vitality. “Be” a favor to your loved ones. Eat sensibly, don’t abuse alcohol or tobacco. Most important of all, l can’t stress this enough, MOST IMPORTANT of all—exercise regularly. Daily. Do something, anything that gets your heart rate up and makes your muscles ache. That aching means your muscles have been stressed. Which in turn means your body sends its army of reparative cells to the rescue: cleaning out the old debris and decay and making new and vital tissue.

Our loved ones are with us in spirit no matter where we are or what time of the year it is. Rather than carry ghosts around, rejoice in the memories and the time spent with loved ones. Live life like you’re living it for those departed. Honor their deaths with your life well-lived. After all, one day… you’ll be together again.

-REMINDER-
Borders Book Signing & Halloween Event
Saturday
October 24, 2009
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Join me this Saturday, October 24, at Borders, Henderson. I’ll be signing copies of The Devil’s Valet. Copies of A Vampire Satire will be given to Borders’ customers as a “treat.” Masquerade masks will be given out along with the first fifteen books purchased. There will be a Children’s Corner and live music, so bring the whole family!

Borders Bookstore
1445 West Sunset Rd.
Henderson, NV 89014

Borders at Sunset and Stephanie in Henderson will be hosting a Halloween Book Signing Event with me as the featured author. October 24, 4-6 p.m. I’ll be signing copies of The Devil’s Valet. The first fifteen fans <:-) to buy the book will also get a signed paper mache masquerade mask similar to the one on the cover of The Devil’s Valet. There will be children’s activities and live music so bring the whole family!
A Vampire Satire: Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter already know I’ve written a four-part fiction story as a treat for the month of October. Subscribers get the first chapter free and the subsequent chapters for only $.99. Non-subscribers can purchase the entire series for $1.99 using PayPal on my website. Each chapter will be delivered weekly into your inbox throughout the month of October. A tongue-in-cheek, rib-tickling poke at the vampire trend over-saturating the market is only a PayPal poke away.

I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs how excruciating the process is to find an agent. The time line stretches on forever it seems. Same with book reveiws. I submitted The Devil’s Valet in May to The Midwest Book Review and got the review this week. Here it is:
Betrayal can change everything. “The Devil’s Valet” follows one Crosby Campbell as she meets the man of her dreams, or so she thinks. What follows is a series of events which radically changes Crosby’s life: divorce, pregnancy, and much more. A touching story of a woman trying to find her place in the world, “The Devil’’s Valet” is an entertaining read all the way through.
- Mary Cowper, MWBR.
Borders at Sunset and Stephanie will be hosting a Halloween Book Signing Event with me as the featured author. October 24, 4-6 p.m. I’ll be signing copies of The Devil’s Valet. The first fifteen fans <:-) to buy the book will also get a signed paper mache masquerade mask similar to the one on the cover of The Devil's Valet. There will be children's activities and live music so bring the whole family!
A Vampire Satire: Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter already know I’ve written a four-part fiction story as a treat for the month of October. Subscribers get the first chapter free and the subsequent chapters for only $.99. Non-subscribers can purchase the entire series for $1.99 using PayPal on my website. Each chapter will be delivered weekly into your inbox throughout the month of October. A tongue-in-cheek, rib-tickling poke at the vampire trend over-saturating the market is only a PayPal poke away.

A Port of No Return was reviewed by the prestigious Kirkus Reviews and received a stellar review. “A sexy, thrilling ride. McKellar skillfully brings the characters to life, and she clearly knows not only the technical details of living and working on a boat, but also the heady thrill of life at sea.” This review was the seal of approval for me from my peers. Had it been a damning review I doubt I would have written three more novels; all of which have received similarly glowing reviews. I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that without the constant love, understanding and support of my family and friends, I could never have accomplished as much as I have in the past four years. The face of rejection is ugly, indeed. Frustration isn’t good for the heart. But, I’ve had have plenty of strong shoulders to cry on. I’ve been rewarded countless times over when I see “the look” in my readers’ eyes when they tell me how much they enjoy reading my books. How I’ve kept them up late at night. It’s a look that doesn’t lie. It fills my heart with joy.

As luck would have it, I began my first book, A Port of No Return, in the spring of 2005. I had also begun a major remodel of my home: Not a good combination of elements. I’m sure the workers thought I was crazy half the time. Yes, I do tend to stride about on the back patio muttering to myself when wrestling with a character development or plot structure.  And, the look on my face when interrupted by a worker with a question or a request must have been quite alarming. What do you mean you want me to look at a color swatch when I’m right in the midst of bringing a chapter to a titillating climax?!? It’s no urban legend that writers live in their bathrobes. I’ve been supremely blessed in that I work out of my home. But, work is work and it takes structure and discipline to write a 110,000 word novel. I learned early on  not to venture anywhere NEAR my computer until AFTER my teeth were brushed and the dogs got fresh food and water. Once the computer goes on, it’s my master—seven days a week, 5 or more hours a day…(continued)

September 23, 2009

What Makes A Writer?Inspiration? (Part 2)

As a child, I was the proverbial bookworm. Nancy Drew, Little Women, all were dear to my heart. My original copy of Gone with the Wind shows the Love in every tattered, dog-eared page. I have upstairs books and downstairs books, books in the library, and books in boxes. My husband gifted me with a sweatshirt one Christmas: “So Many Books, So Little Time”. As an adult, when I began to travel, I kept journals.  I absolutely love to study people. Everyone has a story. People and places are inspiration to me. In the course of researching areas of interest that tie into my plots, it amazes me the number of unexpected subjects I stumble upon. For example: I envisioned the twisted, deviant captain of the Vanora in The Shadows of the Sea, as a native of Mexico City. Why was he twisted? I didn’t know until, while researching the history of Mexico City, I stumbled upon a true story about the massacre of students of the Universidad de Mexico. The infamous Tlatelolco Massacre (see Wikipedia) happened in October of 1968, just weeks before Mexico hosted the Olympics. I got my hook: Diego’s hatred stems from the loss of his innocent, older brother during the massacre, followed by the loss of their heart-broken mother.  You  can go to my website or Amazon.com to buy The Shadows of the Sea to get the full story. It’s a damn good one,too, if I do say so myself. ( to be continued)

One of the first things people generally ask me at lectures and book signings is, “When did you start writing?  Have you done it your whole life?” I have been writing  for as long as I can remember. I was first published when I was eight years old in a Southern California religious newspaper. I had written a small poem that my proud mother submitted to the publication.  I also created reams of fairytale-princess-happily-ever-after tales, complete with illustrations and text balloons. Looking back, they were storyboards, actually. I was the publisher, editor, and reporter for the neighborhood newspaper, The Estrada Press, when I was nine or ten years old. I still have the first copy, although, alas, the storyboards were lost in a house fire. My mother was a gifted and prolific writer of poetry. One of her poems honoring General Douglas MacArthur is in the West Point Library. Did I inherit a gene? Did the bedtime ritual of having poetry read aloud to us have a profound effect on my subconscious? I can still recite The Highwayman, Little Boy Blue and several other well-loved poems by heart; including those of my mother….(to be continued)

Watching Carlos Santana perform at the The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel evoked a lot of forgotten moments and memories. Music has the magic to do that. Santana brought to mind memories of high school… and my brother, Pat, who chose to end his life on March 15, 2003. Strains of music run through  my novels.  In A Port of No Return, sexy Noah hums a Jamaican follk song to Quinn on watch one night: a folk song I still remember from when I lived with a Jamaican family in Negril, Jamaica, in the seventies. In The Shadows of the Sea, Quinn awakens  to  Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of Mine. Crosby Campbell is haunted by strains of a Vivaldi concerto in The Devil’s Valet.

I’ve been blessed with a house full of music and a host of friends of all walks of the arts and of life. My former husband is a gifted forties-style crooner. I’ve had a live rock-n-roll band play in my music room.   A sax soloist performed there once, and recently, a well-known Italian opera singer, Ulysses Borgia, did us the honors with an aria.  I also have a very well-used karaoke machine!

This summer  Helen and I took a magnificent, 1800-mile road trip along Pacific Coast Highway. As always, we brought our favorite CD’s and Helen brought along her VIDEO CAMERA. Cruising  along Half Moon Bay, what should queue up on the CD player?? Guns and Roses! SWEET CHILD OF MINE. What washed over me at that point in time when that song came on? I don’t know! But, Helen has it on video. The question to you, dear blog readers, is (this is also a trick question of sorts, to see if any of you really read these  sweet blogs o’ mine) SHOULD WE POST THE VIDEO?

 ”Music hath powers to soothe the savage breast.”  (The Mourning Bride, by William Congreve)

Las Vegas rolled the lucky 999’s on 09/09/09. Wedding chapels were booked and  couples got  married in packs at 9:09 a.m./p.m.  Dinners were discounted to $9.99. Winning poker hands of four nines were rewarded. There’s so much festivity, frolicking, and freakishness that surrounds odd calendar days and standardized calendar days such as Halloween.

This once in a millennium bundle of 09’s precedes a somber memorial date, 09/11/09.  Nine years ago this newly-standardized calendar day, September 11, was birthed in blood by the coordinated attacks of Al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers upon the United States. What American could ever forget even the smallest detail? One could no more bury those visions than most of the victim’s families could bury their dead. I have my American flag posted at my front door  to honor those who died, and also to honor their mortally wounded families, friends and loved ones.  God bless YOU, Americans. Raise your flags and honor not just the 9/11 victims, but  all who stand, and those who die, for America.