Sunday, June 14, 2020

Dealing with Disaster by Merrillee Whren

About a week ago I took the photo above when the Bighorn Fire in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona, was burning brightly in the night. Now the fire has moved to the other side of the mountains, but there are still flare ups on the side we can see. The fire has been burning over a week. It was started by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm. It has burned over 9,000 acres at the time of this writing. People have had to evacuate their homes. Some have been able to return, but others have had to evacuate. Some are on alert for evacuation. Fortunately, we live in an area that is far enough away from the mountains, but we have a full view of the smoke during the day and flames at night.

In life we have to deal with disasters of different kinds. The whole world has been dealing with a deadly virus. We have learned how to cope with all the necessary ways to fight against it. Disasters are a part of life. We have to learn how to handle them. As authors our job is to create characters and put them into the middle of a disaster of some sort. Sometimes the disaster can be life-threatening and other times just something the character doesn't want to face.

I've used disasters such as a hurricane in Four Little Blessings, a tornado in Country Blessings, a blizzard in Hometown Promise, a stolen car in A Song to Call Ours, the threat of losing a child in A Family to Call Ours, an unwanted pregnancy in A Baby to Call Ours, and the heroine's discovery that her life has been a lie in A Place to Find Love, just to name a few.

In my latest book, Second Chance Gift, my heroine encounters several disasters. She deals with a broken down car, the discovery that her teenage son has been less than truthful about his activities, and trying to hide the past she fears will alienate her from her dearest friend.


What kind of disasters have you encountered?

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Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

5 comments:

  1. This past week I've dealt with one problem after another—from no air conditioner for the past week (still don't have any and the temperature is getting near to 100 degrees), to a car breaking down and a drain being clogged up to large tree branches breaking and threatening my roof.

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  2. Margaret, you've had a lot to deal with. It does seem that troubles come in bunches.

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  4. Fortunately no disasters here in the Charlotte, NC, area for me, personally, but certainly the threat of bad storms is always present.

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  5. Doing well in PA. We did have a storm that knocked our power out for a day.

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