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"Theoden: [stands up from the throne] Dark have been my dreams of late.
[looks at his hands]
Gandalf: Your fingers would remember their old strength better... if they grasped your sword." - The Lord of the Rings

My life has hit a major bump in the road. My wife passed away suddenly and unexpected on Feburary 18th, 2011. She was the best part of my day. My muse and my cheerleader. I have attempted to continue the writing and find that I want to put her on every page. That may not be a bad thing, however I must keep to the plot. Alexenah will certainly pick up some of who she was, and it was always my goal to write her in as a character named Raena.

Unfortunately, I have experienced another loss. One not so great. I had worked on new chapters connecting the start to the origional beginning of the book, yet had not saved the last few editing/rewrites when my computer crashed. Obtaining a new hard drive, I spent yesterday uploading all I had saved on the book and gathered the printed pages of the latest writing. I now have the task of putting it back together and finishing this task.

I was away for two weeks on a trip with my son. During that time the plot became more real in my mind, fleshing out some of the mystery and how to present it. I feel more than ever that this is my task and whether I write anything else, that for my wife's sake, I will finish what she so willingly promoted and sacrificed so that I could pursue writing this novel. Without her encouragement, I will move ahead. I must draw upon her life as though she stands beside me. There is a quote we both liked in the movie "Conan: the Barbarian." Renee was very much like this:

"All the god's, they cannot sever us. If I were dead and you were fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side." --Valeria

I love you still, Renee' and I miss you so.
I will pick up my sword again. -- Jon