Back in the Saddle Again.

I've started to write again.

It's been a long hiatus, several years since Waterlilies and In the Arms of the Enemy were published. I've discovered
that "Arms" is still saleable. My publisher (LSP Digital LLC) had a promotion for Kindle Division on Amazon in December, and we had over 4000 downloads
for In the Arms of the Enemy. Valentine's Day, we had over 200. It's not the money (the promotion was for a free download) so much, but the readership I value.

So, back to Legacy of Danger. The name is probably too common. I'm still working on a fitting title. Maybe Shadows of
the Past? Any ideas out there? Maybe I'll run a contest. The winner will get a copy of the book whether as an electronic
publication or print, depending. Remember, it's not finished yet.

Legacy started in the mid to late 1990's as a prompt in a writing workshop. Our fearless leader gave us twenty
names of things to consider for this Halloween assignment. Among them were: castle, ruby, blood, cross, vampire, curse, rose, silver.
Can't remember the rest. Heck it was some fifteen years ago. Lucky I can remember them. I wrote a short story based on the words.
My heroine was weak as dishwater, and she fainted at the end. She had gotten an anonymous black rose for her twenty-first birthday.
Family legend has it that any female member of the famiy who receives a black rose for their twenty-first birthday would die.
All part of the Dracula vampire legend. (made up by me) Anyway, I kind of liked the gist, so I started the novel.

After struggling with Version One--I decided changes were definitely in order. I got rid of half of the characters. I turned it into
a paranormal. Elena (my heroine whose name has not changed) became stronger. She was given a son, who she thought was dead and a husband
who was dead. Enter ex-boyfriend and family friend, Alex. Alex has always been in the story. Things just changed for him.
His love for Elena did not, even though in the present version, he dislikes her because she dumped him to marry someone else.
You'll have to find out why, for yourselves. Not giving away the entire store. I will say, the black rose has disappeared. The legend of
death at twenty-one has disappeared. The silver cross, castle and ruby remain.

But, getting back to the present, this is HARD. Some people think I should just start another book. Well, I did that many times. Two of the
books got published. (Waterlilies Over my Grave 2008 and In the Arms of the Enemy 2007) Others were partially or completely written,
but have remained in the bowels of the computer, where they will stay. (Until I decide to rewrite or delete them)

Last Monday acted as a catalyst for me. My colleague and friend, Micki Peluso (also a reviewer--and a good one) and I hosted a chat
with blogging as the topic. Another colleague from the past, and a wonderful writer, was also struggling with her novel. We decided to become
critique partners. That's where I read a chapter of her book, she reads a chapter in mine and we critique for various things like
grammar, punctuation, but more important, story line details, likeability of characters, proper responses, redundancies etc. Lots
more but I can't possibly put all of them in this post. I'm hoping she pushes me. I shall push her.

We will see where this all falls. I might make major changes. I might make minor changes. But I will get a second opinion, and I will
see how my pet project has evolved throughout the years. Maybe I'll bring back the curse, but I doubt it. Elena is twenty-six is this novel.

So, in my virtual little cabin (well, a small house, but I won't quibble) on a virtual lake, with virtual blueberry muffins in the oven and
real coffee perking, I'm back in the saddle (well, on my computer) again.

Happy reading, happy writing. See blurb below.

Pat

SHADOWS FROM THE PAST
or
LEGACY OF DANGER

By Patricia A. Guthrie

PARANORMAL ROMANTIC SUSPENSE


Why would someone kill over a broken down castle in Romania?

If you’d just inherited a castle in Romania, wouldn’t you expect to visit? So does young and beautiful Elena D’kany, last member of an ancient and noble Romanian family. But, somebody doesn’t want her to reach her destination, and the one person who can help her stay safe is the one person she wants to avoid at all costs.


Author, music teacher, dog obedience trainer, horse person and avid reader, Patricia Guthrie started writing short stories, romantic suspense and novels in the late 90's. Recently retired from teaching , Pat lives in the South Suburbs of Chicago with her two feisty rescue collies who help her write at every given opportunity. Why does Pat write? ANSWER: Smokey, a nine-year old quarter horse who helps her spend all the money he possibly can.