What’s G & A?  Not General & Administrative in a budget expense document, nor Grief & Aggravation in slang shorthand. It’s “goals and achievements,” a blog hop for my publisher, Prism Book Group, taking place January 20 and 21, 2014.

A blog hop links together a number of bloggers around one topic, and you, the reader, can hop from site to site to read them easily. This one focuses on me and my fellow writers, what we’ve achieved, what we see coming up in the next year.  Click on the Linky link below to travel to other authors.

Serendipity plays a big role in my writing. I’ve learned to see this as an achievement. While ideas for stories and books frequently swim around in my brain for years, the particulars depend heavily on coincidence. Take the manuscript I’m currently working on. Because it’s a romance, a woman and a man meet and fall in love after many problems. But the particulars—their characters, the setting, the dialogue, the supporting cast—frequently develop from happenstance in everyday life.

One theme I think will resonate throughout the story is what value do we place on friendship? This question occurred after I saw The Armstrong Lie, a documentary film about the bicyclist. Some friends turned against him as his deceit was revealed; others struggled against betrayal out of loyalty to him and the team. He, too, talks about the bonds of friendship. This theme could be the strong underpinning for my entire plot.

As I watched the revelations from a once-heroic figure, I realized I could base a character from my NEXT novel on him. A person who would make any sacrifice to win, yet a man who seems to value personal loyalty above almost anything else. A parent who must somehow figure out how to retain the affection of his children in the face of his moral downfall. An individual held captive by our collective guilt in many situations that excuse bad behavior if “everyone is doing it.”

Another coincidence: Colorado’s recent floods. Mother Nature or luck pulls people out of their ordinary rounds, and they’re forced to react unexpectedly. They can respond in admirable or despicable ways. In my upcoming novel  (possibly titled Rocky Mountain Rebirth or Rocky Mountain Renewal, slated for publication summer 2014), one of the wild fires that periodically sweep the forests plays a major role. And in the manuscript I’m working on, I’ve decided a flood like the ones the state experienced in 2013 will be a major turning point.

My goal for 2014 has fallen into place on its own—finish a new novel. I hope and trust the cycle will continue indefinitely, goal-achievement-goal-achievement, as long as I can drag myself to the keyboard

Click with your mouse on this Linky Link to get to 21 authors and their thoughts about Gs & As

Click with your mouse on this Rafflecopter giveaway to be eligible for a prize:  Book Lovers Gift Pack from Prism Book Group! Includes a print copy of Sarah: Mission of Love by Gay N. Lewis, a print copy of The Last Detail by Lisa J Lickel, and three Prism eBook downloads of choice!