My Novel's Journey: My Main Man, My Main Muse

Last week, I blogged about some of my Yahoo! muses. Today, I want to tell you about my main Muse, the one I turn to first and again, and who has never let me down with his wit or fabulous ideas.

My husband, Rob.

Rob has this incredible mind. You can give him a bunch of disjointed ideas and facts and he can focus in on the key issue. He's like that at work, too, but that's for another blog. Add to the fact that he's got a terrific if sometimes quirky sense of humor and is well read in my genres, and you have the perfect mate for a writer!

He's been invaluable in this book, too, as in all my writing. Everywhere, you'll find his stamp: a key area of plot, an unusual but logical solution to a problem, a phrase that cracks you up. When I needed an evil overlord for Live and Let Fly, all I had were some general ideas: demigod, probably work good with businessmen, master plotter who would be smart enough to avoid the usual Evil Overlord mistakes but who would have one fatal flaw Vern could exploit. Rob didn't have to think two minutes before he suggested Loki. (Of course, things have changed, but you'll love what I do with him!) Yesterday, I needed a new booby-trap for Vern and Company to deal with; his answer is both devious and elegant and fits perfectly with an earlier scene. Then, when I woke up from a dream of a totally different ending, I presented him with the holes, and he plugged them up in a way that set me laughing--and I think it'll make you smile, too.

No, I'm not telling. That'd be too much of a spoiler! Let's just say even I didn't expect this, but I'm soooo glad I came up with it!

Magic, Mensa and Mayhem is dedicated to Rob, but no matter what book or story you read of mine, you're also getting a peek into the mind of Rob Fabian. And that just makes the stories all the better.

Word count: 75,700. I thought I was in the final stretch until yesterday's dream. Looks like 20,000 more to go!

Fave Phrase: I can't share it. It'd be a major spoiler (Though some friends have seen it. I almost didn’t write the scene, but I'm glad I did.) So here's the scene where they are about to go sabotage the nuclear reactor until the cavalry can arrive and stop Hel (aka Loki?) for good.

He paused and looked each one of us in the eyes, slowly. "It's crunch time. We're behind enemy lines. I know everyone will do their best but understand: In operations like these, someone usually gets killed."

I raised my eyebrows. "Don't look at me."

Heather clutched Charlie's arm. "I've got too much to live for!"

Charlie shrugged. "I volunteer you, mate."

Grace just rolled her eyes. "I think this is one cliché we can dispense with."

Rak huffed to himself like we were all lunatics, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. I think he actually resisted the temptation for some kind of team handshake, however.

A Laptop, and Idea, and Thou--the Romance of Collaboration

People laugh sometimes when I tell them that my idea of a romantic evening with my husband is collaborating on a story. However, when we are working together on a story, I see again all the things that made me fall in love with Rob.

Rob is an attractive man, but that isn't what drew me to him. From the beginning, it's been his humor, his analytical skills and his ability to apply his encyclopedic knowledge that I've found admirable and, yes, sexy.

As we married and our lives joined not only spiritually but in the mundane realm of shared experiences and common goals, there was still a lot to talk about and share, but rehashing what went on at work and what the babies had done that day can get old. We've always been great communicators--a result of spending our first two years of marriage with an ocean dividing us--so when we did go on dinner dates, we needed something new to talk about.

So we started making up stories.

Our first venture, nearly 10 years ago, happened while I was writing a series on different orders of nuns and Rob was involved in Artemis Society, a group trying to establish a commercial presence on the moon. Those common experiences got us thinking that someday, humans were going to have a viable commercial presence in the solar system, and the Catholic Church would want to follow--but how? We decided on an order of intrepid nuns who did dangerous search and rescue work in outer space. By working for "air, supplies and the Love of God," they undercut the commercial competition in the S&R field and forced a path for religious in space.

"Leap of Faith" was our first story. That story has led to others--indeed to a whole universe!--and to three anthologies: Leaps of Faith (coming Summer 2008 from The Writers' Café Press), Infinite Space, Infinite God (Twilight Times), and Infinite Space, Infinite God II (accepting submissions now!)

The creative process is exciting for us. As we bat ideas back and forth and hammer out problems, I get to see Rob's mind in action in something that isn't just work related (which gets familiar and old). I can toss the most unlikely things out at him--how do you have a fistfight in microgravity? In fact, much of our collaborating is the two of us hammering out the plot, me writing, and him providing "tech support".

We laugh a lot, too, but we do that, anyway. Still, it's nice to do something with our unique (well, okay, odd) humor beside banter puns.

The key, though, and maybe it's selfish, but when we collaborate, he's focused on something that is just ours--not his and work, not ours and kids'--just his and mine together. And my focus is there, too--not on the house, the obligations of my other writing--just on what we're doing for fun. He challenges my mind to keep up with his, finding new angles, posing new situations. I feel smarter and stronger when we collaborate--and that's romantic (even sexy), too.

The past few years, Rob's work has taken away from our collaboration time, and I find I have to fight to get "storytime" with him. But he's always there when I have a question or a conundrum--and always with an answer that blows me away. We steal what time we can, and dream of the days when kids are in college and Rob's retired and we can really write together.
It's going to be amazing.

Christmas Suprises: Websites and Wonders

Work on my new website continues at a snail's pace. Right now, we're trying to figure out how to change the colors on the skin--or find a new skin. We're going with something lighter because, as I said, it seems my writing is moving in a somewhat different direction.

In the meantime, people are still looking at the site, and that's led to a terrific Christmas surprise.

Rob has often mentioned to us the childhood friend that saved his life, John Wells. They had been digging in a ditch, making a battleground for GI Joe, when the cave they'd managed collapsed on Rob. His friend, though only eight, dug Rob out, got him to the highway and got them a ride home. (This was on the Air Force Academy.) Rob's parents took him to the hospital, where they discovered one of his ribs had been broken and had sliced his liver to shreds. Rob said one surgeon was ready to give up; the other said, "No. I've seen this in Vietnam." To this day, Rob says two people saved his life: that surgeon and his friend John Wells. He and John lost track of each other, as happens to military brats, but Rob has never forgotten him and has told our children the story many times.

Would you believe that John has often thought of Rob, too? And that he would feel he's the one that owed Rob a debt of gratitude; for my bibliophile husband infected him with a lifelong love of books.

Last week, John found us through my website. Rob shouted with joy: "That's my friend! That's they guy who saved my life!" Me, I'm a sentimental biddy; I still have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. What an incredible gift!

So John, even though I already e-mailed you, I want to say this publicly:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the gift of my husband. God bless you and Merry Christmas.

Veteran's Day Speech by LtCol Robert Fabian

My husband, Rob, is an officer in the Air Force and served for a year as the speech writer for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (Gen Jumper). So when the American Legion of Drake, ND, asked Minot AFB for a speaker for their Veteran's Day Dinner, he was glad to step up. Below is his speech. (I kept it in the original format for those who might be interested in seeing one way to organize a formal speech.)

Incidentally, the Drake folks loved it and want him back for Memorial Day.

WELCOME

 Thank you Tom for those kind words
 And for the opportunity to join your community as we remember our Nation’s veterans
• Thank you all for having me here
 I’m honored to join your community tonight, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned in nearly 20 years of military service – 24 if you count the Academy
• It’s that our communities are our nation
• Small ones, like Drake, or El Dorado Texas, where I started my career as a Lieutenant
• And big ones, like Denver or Detroit, or even Washington D.C.
• Every one is a little different – and every one adds something to the American way of life.

COMMUNITIES

 Our veterans – those who have served and those who still serve, come from those communities
• And bring those differences – and the strengths that come from them – to the defense of our nation
• Poor or wealthy, urban or rural, from Maine backwoodsmen to California surfer dudes they bond together as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines
o As our Nation’s sword and shield
 Where else but in America can the son of a major aerospace conglomerate and the son of a single mother on welfare meet, bond, and form a lifetime friendship
• That’s not just an example – they’re both classmates of mine from the Academy
 Our veterans represent the strength and diversity of our nation
• And they – you - have been doing that for well over 230 years

VETERANS DAY

 This day was originally chosen to honor the veterans of the “Great War” – World War I
• Armistice Day was intended to honor those who had fought “The War To End All Wars”
 But by the end of World War II, it was obvious that it needed to be broader than that –
• Honoring all who served in defense of our great Nation
 So in 1954 Congress changed the law, marking November 11th as Veterans Day to honor American veterans of all wars
• From our War of Independence in 1776 right through to today
 Today, we honor all those who have served their country honorably
• Been its sword and its shield for more than two centuries across the globe
• From the beaches of Normandy to the deserts of Iraq
 And defeated those who meant us harm
• British troops and Hessian mercenaries, Barbary pirates and Mexican bandits, Nazi soldiers and Communist insurgents, and terrorist of every stripe
• American veterans taught them all that threatening America carries a heavy price
• And we stand free today, the major power in the world, because of their sacrifices

COLD WAR

 And not all sacrifices have come on the battlefield
 Today we honor all those who served, not just those who saw combat
 We often forget America’s other war – the war that didn’t happen
• The Cold War against the Soviet Union
 American veterans stood in the Fulda Gap in Germany, on alert in ICBM silos and bomber bases across the United States and just down the road
• Ready for World War III on a moments notice
• So ready in fact, that it never happened
• Our enemy looked into the abyss and drew back, keeping an uneasy peace until it collapsed under its own weight
 I fought in that war myself, as a young lieutenant assigned to a missile warning radar in west Texas
• It never happened, but the threat was terrifyingly real
 I can speak to that first hand…
• One night, at about 3 AM, I sat on watch with my crew, tracking satellites and watching for incoming ballistic missiles – a little sleepy and a little complacent having been qualified a whole two weeks…
• When a meteorite, a shooting star, blew through our coverage as it fell to Earth
• Coming through at just the wrong angle and looking exactly like an incoming nuclear missile heading right for Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado – our nuclear nerve center
 I had 60 seconds to assess the condition of my radar, check the track, and fire off a warning to the Mountain
• Thankfully, two other radars, looking at different angles, also saw it and properly identified it as a meteorite
o But from where I sat, World War III had just started
• Inside of two minutes the whole thing was over and we all wound down again – a lot less sleepy and much wider eyed

 It’s a funny story today, but it underscores an important point
• While the Cold War may not have seen actual combat – it was a war – and we owe our veterans a debt of gratitude for protecting us while it smoldered
VETERANS OF TODAY
 We often hear in the news that the new generation coming of age doesn’t get it—that they have no concept of service or sacrifice
• That’s BUNK!
 Let me tell you a little bit about the young Airmen I know
 They understand discipline—they crave it
• I command a squadron of 160 Airmen, most young, many on their first enlistment, fresh out of high school
 We maintain the 91st Space Wing’s fleet of 150 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles – enough nuclear weapons to devastate a reasonably sized nation
• The standards we demand are extreme – they have to be
• These teenagers and twenty-something’s thrive on those standards
 My training flight trains all the ICBM maintainers in our Wing
• I’ve seen our trainees go from joking and goofing around on break to the speed and precision of a NASCAR pit crew while on duty, sometimes in a split second
 And I’ve seen the looks on their faces when they graduate training
• When we tell them that they have met the high standards we demand and can be trusted to work on real nukes
• They glow – no not literally, with nukes that’d be a bad thing – but with pride
• Pride in their abilities, pride in their accomplishments, and pride in their discipline
 They face challenges head on—and overcome them with flair
 During my year as the Chief of Staff’s speechwriter, I got to meet some real heroes
• For example, let me tell you about SSgt Donny Hayes, one of what we’ve started calling our “Battlefield Airmen”
• Airmen who go into harms way alongside their Army and Marine brethren to bring airpower directly into the tactical fight
• SSgt Hayes was deep in Afghanistan and the Army SOF team he was with had been taking sniper fire on and off all day
o He had a B-1 overhead, an incredibly powerful aircraft loaded down with precision weapons - but they couldn’t find any targets
 Between them, they suggested a “low level show of force”
o Now picture this: Pitch black, ten hardened SOF troops sitting dead quiet overlooking a 30 mile long valley
o Suddenly, way out, are four 200' flames coming up the valley
o Faster than you can think that B-1 blasts the sound barrier
 In the words of SSgt Hayes, it felt “like God just hit you in the head with a hammer”
o The team took no more fire that night
 They are dedicated
• Let me tell you about another young hero I ran across while serving at the Pentagon
• While I was there, General Jumper made a point of making time to personally award Purple Hearts to our wounded Airmen at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
o One, A1C Tony Pizzifred, was from right here in North Dakota
o Assigned to the 5th Security Forces Squadron at Minot AFB, he deployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan
 Where he lost his left foot to a land-mine while on patrol
• His biggest concern—he wanted to stay in the Air Force
o He wanted to continue to serve

 These kids…no…these veterans, get it—and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

 I’d like to close with one story that summarizes the pride in service found in today’s military
 Some of you may have heard of Roberts Ridge in Afghanistan – a long and bloody fight to rescue trapped American soldiers
• Two of my friends were overhead providing close air support to the forces on the ground
 But they’re not the ones I want to talk about – I want to talk about SrA Jason Cunningham, the Air Force combat search and rescue medic assigned to the initial rescue team
• They had been sent in via helicopter to rescue two American servicemen evading capture - surrounded by al-Qaeda and Taliban forces
 Before they could land, his helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed.
• Suddenly, the rescuers needed rescue, and with 3 dead and 5 wounded – then- , they set about defending themselves
 Still taking heavy fire and at great risk to his own life, Airman Cunningham remained in the burning fuselage of the aircraft in order to treat his wounded comrades.
• As their positions were overrun, he repeatedly exposed himself to heavy fire to move the wounded along with them
• With bullets and grenades flying all around and mortars exploding less than 50 feet away, he continued to treat the wounded
• Mortally wounded himself, he continued to direct others in caring for the soldiers around him
 In the end, he personally saved the lives of 10 wounded servicemen – and lost his own in the process
 SrA Cunningham was awarded the Air Force Cross for his actions – the Air Force’s highest award, second only to the Medal of Honor
 General Jumper presented that medal to his widow, Theresa Cunningham
• Or, I should say, Cadet Theresa Cunningham, a member of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps
 Today, Theresa Cunningham is an officer in the United States Air Force
• She continues her husband’s legacy of service – determined to make sure that the cause for which her husband gave his life does not fail

 These are the next generation of veterans – selfless, dedicated, and deadly
• They are our future
 You, our past veterans, gave us an outstanding tradition of service and a great nation in which to live—we aim to keep it that way
 To paraphrase President Reagan – Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but veterans don't have that problem.
 Thank you.

Some of the many things I love about Rob

You know, you don't see a lot of door-to-door evangelists lately. I think I know why. They must have run up against people like my husband.

When my husband was agnostic, he had a lot of fun with evangelists who came to his door.

His dog tags said "Druid" and he would ague that Druids were favored by God. After all, how many Druids died in WWII? None! (No practicing Druids were in WWII that he knew of, but that's beside the point, of course...) After other similarly true but statistically insignificant examples, he showed them his potted plant and said he worshipped at the plant and they were welcome to join him. They left quickly and warned all his neighbors.

He also used his dog tags during military survival training. While a "prisoner" in the mock-POW camp, he tried to demand his Geneva convention rights to worship: "Just give me a stone knife and some blue face paint and leave me alone in the woods for a couple of hours. Come on! I'll come back when I'm done. Really, I will. I'll even forgo the virgin." Somehow, the trainers didn't buy it.

They did, however, buy his secret communications routine. Before the training, he and a friend found Tolkein's Elvish dictionary and learned a few phrases. Completely baffled the trainers. They even brought in linguists to try to figure out what they were saying.

Is it any wonder I fell in love with this man?

Ironically, I "converted" him with just seven words: "Want to come with me to Mass?" He came for the love of me and stayed for the love of God.