This 'n' That

Since the release of The Bodyguard in January, 2006, my family has undergone several transitions--two moves, one long distance and one across town, both in the short span of a year. There's nothinhg worse than upsetting your routine to stifle your creativity.

After getting settled in our new home, I decided to use my birthday to kick start my muse and spent a week of uninterrupted writing on the coast of South Carolina, in beautiful Isle of Palms, immediately following a writer's retreat sponsored by Low Country RWA. Hermit Week was just what I needed to get me back into the groove of writing. I wrote seventy pages of the first draft of my latest work in progress and felt on top of the world when I returned home.

Life had just settled back into a semblance of normalcy. Thanksgiving passed in a rush, with family visiting and all the hoopla that goes with it. I looked forward to some down time after Christmas with my grandchildren who were coming for a visit, before thrusting myself headlong into my new project.

It was just before midnight on my sister's birthday, Dec. 20th, when the phone rang. Hearing Ginger's voice for the second time that day, sent a tingling sense of foreboding that something was wrong. She had been battling lung cancer for a few years and had just gone back into remission for the second time. She called to give me the results of her MRI. When she said the doctor couldn't look her in the eye, a chill raced through me and the expectation of hearing that the cancer had returned would have been bad enough, but her next words stunned me beyond belief. She had bone cancer and there was nothing the doctors could do. They had given her one to three months to live. As devastated as I was, I could only imagine how shocked and horrified she must have felt at that moment. I did my best to stay calm while she talked, and amazingly I didn't break down until the call ended.

Needless to say, all thoughts of writing, or anything else faded into the background. For the next three months, I spent as much time as possible talking with her and listening as she made preparations for her death. I admired her strength above everything, she was ready to go home, but she hated leaving her children and grandchildren behind, who depended and leaned on her for strength. Most of all, she wanted to talk about life: the present, the past and her hopes and dreams for her childrens' futures after she was gone. Those weeks were some of the hardest I have ever endured, and still today I stand in awe of the fact that she spent her last days on this earth concerned for everyone except herself. My sister was the strongest woman I've evern known.

I live about five hundred miiles from where we were raised in eastern Tennessee. In the days ahead, I planned a trip to Knoxville to see her, knowing full well, it would likely be the last time I would see her in this life. I can't express how difficult it was to say goodbye, yet, I wouldn't trade those moments for anything in this world. This past February Ginger went home to be with the Lord, and I will see her again.

My reason for sharing this very personal story is because I owe my fans an explanation of why I dropped out of sight. Over these past few months, I removed myself from the writing community as a whole. I needed time to mourn and to be there for those who needed me, time to spend with family and friends and make every moment count, time to allow my mind and body to rest and rejuvenate. Perhaps, most of all to re-examine my priorities and re-evaluate where I'm going and why.

During the weeks and months ahead, I beg your pateince and understanding as I move full steam ahead. I am planning five new books that will complete The Bodyguard series, and hope to have all five of them plotted, and complete a first draft of Book Two by the end of 2008. In the meantime, I am working fervently on completing Broken Arrow, a romantic suspense that I hope to have ready to submit by the end of next summer.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Shelby Maxwell