Lunar Eclipse Tonight

What are you planning to do this evening? If you don't have any particular plans, I'd like to suggest that you go outside and stare at the sky.

Okay, I'll be a little more specific. Tonight we'll get both a "supermoon" and the fourth of a lunar tetrad, which will lead to a "blood moon."

A supermoon happens when the moon is full at the time when it's closest to Earth. You won't see the moon filling the sky or anything like that, but it will be a little bigger than usual.

The lunar tetrad is a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, which is pretty rare. The blood moon happens when the moon is fully eclipsed and turns a sort of reddish-orange color.

Take a look at this website: timeanddate.com It shows a cool animation of what to expect when you're looking up at the eclipse (no special glasses or shields are necessary for a lunar eclipse). It also gives you a lot of information about where and when you can see it.

I recommend giving it a try. The so-called "blood moon" is a fascinating sight, and it's also interesting to track the path of the eclipse as the moon first darkens (in Earth's penumbra) and then turns color (in Earth's umbra).

As you might guess, I have a certain fondness for anything involving a Penumbra.

I hope you'll give it a try. I plan to be out there, once again baffling the neighbors by standing there with my head thrown back while I stare upward. Maybe they're used to it by now and won't even notice!

Work continues on The Other Side. There's still a lot to be done, but I'll keep working on it. Thanks for following my blog!

Another In The Shadows Update

Good news! I finally finished the blurb for In the Shadows, which means I was able to submit the whole book to CreateSpace.com for review. After waiting 24 hours, I got the word: it's good to go!

I've now ordered a proof copy that's supposed to arrive around January 5. (It's hard to wait!) Then I'll finally be able to hold my latest novel in my hands. What a feeling that is. (And it lasts until I start proofreading and find the inevitable mistake. Oh, well, that's part of the process.) I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, believe it or not, I've starting working on the next one! (It already has a rough draft.) This one will need A LOT of work: it doesn't have a title and it isn't even broken into chapters yet! (I think I have a good title in mind, though. I'll give it some thought and let you know once I'm sure.)

Remember to tell all of your friends and family members about the first two novels. They'd better hurry and read them before the third one is out, right?

I hope you had a peaceful holiday and will have a wonderful New Year. Look for the beauty that's around you, sometimes where you least expect it.


From Photography Workshop, November 2014

Thanks, as always, for your support.

The Latest Title

I've been writing a little about the third novel lately and it occurred to me that I haven't revealed the title of it yet. Are you interested? Read on!

I was doing a reasonable job of keeping the title a secret until a couple of people asked me flat out what it is ... so I told them. Now it just doesn't seem fair to keep it to myself any longer.

Here goes: the title of the third novel is In The Shadows.

As you might guess, I play around a lot with darkness and light in this one. You might recall that Penumbra, the name of Lamont's ship, means an area of shadow that's between the darkest shadow and the light, so it made sense to me that I should explore that a little more.

I'm still rewriting, which is the fun part: I get to play around with scenes and words to see what I can come up with. Eventually, however, I'll have to decide that I've done what I can and it's time to format the final product.

Stay tuned!

Perspective

I've been spending too much time lately staring at the images produced by the cameras aboard the International Space Station.  Here's what I've learned about Earth:
1) It's beautiful.
2) There are a LOT of clouds.
3) The people living on it had enough ingenuity to put a station up there so I could see these amazing views. I'm so lucky!

Another thing I've learned is that no matter what my mood, I will feel better when I look at our blue and white planet from above. For one thing, darkness lasts less than an hour up there, so the sun is going to rise again soon.

And the funny thing is that this is a big theme in my third novel! It couldn't be more timely for me to see the embodiment of darkness giving way to light.

It's dark and scary over there to the left, but all of that is shrinking away against the returning light.

Darkness has its purpose and is not always bad, but it's only part of the equation. The trick is to pass through it without becoming part of it.

And down here on this part of the surface, the days are getting longer.
Enjoy your summer.