sisters – Seven Troublesome Sisters

My only sibling and I live far apart, so it requires money and effort to spend time together. Life is busy and it’s easy for months and even years to pass without face to face contact.

We’re alike in may ways, but different enough in others that we’re capable of irritating each other in the special way that only family members can.

This weekend, I traveled by car, plane and bus to make it from my remote house in the mountains of Western North Carolina to her remote house in a small town in Western Illinois. We ate, drank and reminisced , which was all well and good, but what matters to me is that we did more. We trotted out some of those differences and used the ways we’d grown apart to help each other.

My sister has more clothes now than I’ve owned over my entire lifetime, but I have got to admit that she really knows how and where to shop. It goes with modern country living that these places are all online, so part of one pleasant afternoon was spent sitting on her couch shopping for clothes. Oh, and for dishes. She’s really good with kitchenware, too.

I’m more at home with my computer, and had fun helping her manipulate music among her various devices. She and her husband have a new boat, which was great fun in and of itself, and now she is hopefully set up to enjoy playlists while she cruises down the river. And she is definitely getting a new mouse and keyboard for Christmas.

She is also one of the few people I know with whom I share my books before they go to the editor. This visit caught her about half way through the draft of my latest novel. I understand that may writers are reluctant to share their work in progress with family members so I consider myself lucky to have relatives who are genuinely supportive of my passion to tell stories. I’m particularly lucky to have this amazing genetically similar pal to give my stories a second set of eyes.

Is she enjoying my book? Of course she is. She’s my sister. Does that keep her from making a few suggestions? Of course not. She’s my sister.

I have a sister. She’s my only sibling and in spite of the fact that we live a thousand miles apart and lead very different lives, there is a bond. It grows out of the past, a strong vine twining its way through our similar biology and our shared memories. Knowing she is there adds a certain strength to my life, and the vine that holds us together sprouts expected flowers upon occasion.

My first book, x0, has a lot to do with sisters. My main character Lola has one and so does the woman with whom she develops a telepathic bond. Each is quite different from her own sibling, and their common roles as big sister and protector work to forge the two strangers together. I guess its not surprising that Lola has two daughters as well, and books four and five in this collection center around these two young women with very different personalities and powers.

Teddie, the younger sister, got to tell her story first. In c3 she finds strength she didn’t expect when circumstances force her to learn to protect others for the first time in her life. Big sister Ariel can only watch from a distance.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of publishing d4 on kindle. Over the next month or two it will make its way out in paperback and at other markets, as big sister Ariel steps to the center stage to tell her story. Confident from birth, this older sister struggles with a talent that won’t allow her to protect everyone, and that requires learning a sense of balance that Ariel must struggle to achieve.

Today, I created Ariel’s blog at touching the sky to save the world. Drop by and say hi. Teddie isn’t done speaking yet, not by a long shot. However, she’s paused to let her big sister introduce herself. I hope that you will enjoy getting to know Ariel as much as you enjoy hearing from Teddie.