From my old blog site

My first blog. I guess this is exciting. I haven't decided yet. I think I'm more excited about having a public forum to spout my rhetoric. I'm also trying to learn how to update my website to keep it current so you, my fans can keep up with what's going on with my books and my life.So lets start at the beginning with Chase The Wind. The story of Jenny had been in my head since my early high school days. I would pull it out evey now and then (in my mind) and work on it, add things, take away things, but Jenny always remained the same. I never really thought about writing it down. I just didn't think I knew how. I didn't have the proper education to be a writer.Isn't it funny how life works? One day the furthest thing from my mind was being a writer, even though I had always dreamed of a journalistic life in some form. God has a way of putting angels in our paths. One of these angels was Elizabeth who started working part time in the art gallery I had been working in for eight years. When she wasn't working, she was getting her masters. She wanted to be a writer.Most of our conversations during the days were about writing. At about the same time, Jenny began haunting me again. It got to the point where she was all I thought about. You see, she needed someone to tell her story. She knew if her story got written down then her parents and brother would live forever.She really kept bugging me and it got to the point that it hurt my heart. I had to write. So with Elizabeth's encouragement I sat down and wrote her story and the rest, as they say, is history.So lets talk about Ian and Faith now. People get so shocked. You killed the hero in the first third of the book! (I'm assuming that if you're reading this blog, you've also read the book, if you haven't, sorry about giving it away) But it's not Ian and Faith's story, its Jennys! She had a wonderful family. And believe me it was hard to kill them off, especially Ian. He just appeared on the first page and took over the story. He taught me how to write by letting the characters tell the story instead of me. So instead of telling you that Jenny had a wonderful family and she lost them tragically, I let you experience it with her. And of all the people who've read Chase The Wind, I've only had three really complain about it. There might be more, but they haven't let me know about it so I'm going with the majority here.The original manuscript for Chase The Wind actually ended with the birth of Chance and Fox but the publisher asked if I would mind making it into two books. I said of course. Anything you want. You are, after all bringing Jenny's story to the public. I was also excited about this prospect because it really let me develop Chase's character, something that I felt I didn't do enough in the original manuscript. Getting into Chase's head was quite an experience for me.I never knew in the beginning the Jenny's story would grow so much, but as each of the characters were introduced I realized that they all had their own stories to tell so I've been going down the line, telling them. You've read about Ty and Cat in Crosswinds. Jake's story, (tricked ya) Windfall will be released on December 7. Caleb's story, Forgive The Wind, will be released next June(I think I channeled that one) and I am currently working On Zane's story, Whirlwind. Zane is giving me a headache, but that's just Zane.Okay, I'm done blogging for the day. I'll try to be regular about doing it. If there's anything you want to know about, email me at cindyholby@aol.com and I'll see what I can do.Cindy