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Thank you for hosting me here today and asking what my day is like. I always marvel at people who think that I write when the urge hits me, because so many people are in the pipeline who are affected if I miss a deadline. After breakfast, I start my day with exercise on my ski machine, followed by my under-desk bicycle that I pedal while I work. I usually reach twenty miles a day and never go anywhere!
My two rescue dogs, Bella and Ginger, have several beds around the perimeter of my office. They rotate between lying on the beds and rushing through the doggie doors into the backyard whenever they hear something they think might be an invasion of squirrels. In the attached picture, Ginger is tri-colored and a mix of beagle and Jack Russell, while Bella is a mix of Jack Russell and feist. They adore one another so much that when one must go to the vet, the other goes for moral support.
Since my books contain a lot of history, I spend the day moving between research and writing. I take a lunch break, but it’s usually short because the work is so immersive. I will sometimes head downstairs to the larger television to watch research videos in the afternoon. I’ve included links to some of the research sites I used for Padlocked on my website and a list of videos used in research. You can also find them under the Articles link on my website, where I offer a behind-the-scenes look at the book's writing.
At the end of my workday, I used to work out with weights, but I am currently recovering from a shoulder injury.
My dogs must think I am the most boring human they could have adopted!
After researching my current story online, I generally contact historians, universities, and often archeologists, and then take to the road to gather more information in person. There is nothing like standing in the exact spot I have written about, and those impressions often get added to the story during the editing phases.
Padlocked is an epic historical and visionary novel that follows the lives of a group of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary, life-altering circumstances as Nazi Germany invades Poland in 1939. Two foreign photojournalists, an American and a Spaniard, are trapped between armies at Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen, along Poland’s western border with Germany. It is Hank’s last overseas assignment, and he’s been counting the days until he can go home to North Carolina to be with his family. Rafe fled Spain after the dictator, Francisco Franco, targeted his family. The experience changed him, and he now sees the rise of fascism in Europe as a battle between good and evil. They will find themselves embedded with the Polish, Nazi, and Soviet forces at varying times, forcing them to face moral and ethical decisions in their struggles to survive.
A young woman is separated from her sister in Warsaw as the Nazis encircle it. Agata made a vow that she would return to take Elsa to safety, but soldiers and barbed wire prevent her from entering the newly established Jewish sector. She is consumed with guilt over their separation, and when she discovers her sister was taken by train to a work camp near Krakow, she navigates her dangerous, war-torn country in search of her. Her quest will force her to confront a Hell on Earth to find her.
A young man joins the Jungdeutsche Partei, or the Young German Party. Once bullied as a child, Max’s new affiliations promote him to a position where he can dictate life or death and settle scores. In order to thrive under Nazi occupation, he makes daily choices that legitimize brutality and erode humanitarian principles and scruples.
While they don’t know one another at the start of their journeys, each will make decisions that have the power to transform them and place them on paths that ultimately converge on January 27, 1945, as the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates to Auschwitz-Birkenau for all the world to witness.
This is ultimately a story about the strength of love, courage, faith, and resilience in the face of unimaginable hatred and obsession with power, and how every decision we make places us further along specific paths.
Enjoy an Excerpt
The throngs pushed her this way and that, so she felt like she was attempting to run through thick mud. She made slow progress, and yet, something inside her propelled her forward. She reached the end of the block to find cars racing past, ignoring intersection rules, and she hesitated to get her breath. Someone from behind pushed her to the ground, stomping over her dress as she lay prone, scores of feet scuffling over her while she tried vainly to rise.
A hand reached through the crowd. Amidst the shouting, his words were louder and deeper than the others. “Get back!” he shouted as he grasped her by the waist and hauled her to her feet. “Get back!”
As the mob stepped back and then rushed forward in another direction, the man pulled her away from the others. It was easy to see why the crowd had obliged him and given her space. He was a soldier in the Polish Army, his cropped, sandy hair almost hidden beneath a crisp cap bearing the Polish White Eagle. His trim figure was clothed in an olive uniform, and he wore a wide black belt and knee-length black boots.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Fine, thank you.” Agata wiped her hair off her forehead and was surprised to find pebbles from the ground in her hair.
“Where were you going?” he asked.
“I—” She hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“The school—”
“No. I need to leave the Jewish sector. I need to be across town.”
“Is that where you live?”
Agata looked around her in impatience. “I am wasting time here. Thank you for assisting me to my feet, but I must go. The Germans—”
“The Germans are coming,” he finished. “And we are digging in. You will be safe if you remain in Warsaw, Jewish sector or no.”
“Then, thank you, and good-bye.” She turned to run, but he held out his hand and stopped her.
“Do you have an address where you are going? I have a motorbike. I can get you there faster than you can run.”
“Shouldn’t you be somewhere right now? Like, fighting the Germans?”
He laughed so unexpectedly that Agata was shocked. “There will be time enough for that, don’t you worry. My name is Piotr. Come. My motorbike is over there, on the opposite corner.”
As Agata rushed across the busy street with him and settled behind him on the motorbike, she took a long look at the school down the street. It was difficult to know what was happening as people rushed in all directions at once. Her eyes fell on the top step, at two figures holding one another so tightly they appeared as if they might be one. A tear rolled down her cheek as the motorbike zoomed to life, and she held onto Piotr as they took off. Soon, the people blended behind them while the memory of Ira and Elsa on the step seared into her mind. “I will be back tomorrow,” she thought. “I will be back, just as I promised.”
About the Author:
I began writing when I was nine years old, inspired by a schoolteacher and elementary school principal. Scott-Foresman published my first book, a computer instructional for universities, in 1984. Scott-Foresman, Dow-Jones (Richard D. Irwin branch), Palari Publishing, Paralee Press, and Drake Valley Press have published 27 books to date.
Before embarking on a full-time writing career, I founded McClelland Enterprises, Inc., in the Washington, D.C., area in 1984, specializing in workplace computer instruction. I opened another business, Continental Software Development Corporation, in 1994, which focused on custom application development, programming, website design and development, and cybersecurity.
I was honored to be the first female President of the Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers. Since moving to North Carolina, I served on the boards of the Robeson County Friends of the Library and the Robeson County Arts Council.
I launched The Book ‘Em Foundation with Waynesboro, Virginia, Police Officer Mark Kearney, and assisted in Virginia, New Hampshire, and South Carolina events before establishing the Annual Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, chairing it for several years before turning it over to Robeson Community College in Lumberton, NC.
Padlocked is available in all eBook formats, trade paperback, hardcover, and large print editions.
Buy the book at Apple, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo, in France, in Germany, and in all other ebook formats.
Thank you for featuring PADLOCKED today.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting me here today! I'd love to hear from other writers about their typical days. I'll check back in later and answer any questions anyone may have for me.
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