About the Book: The How-To Guide to JUST GIVE IN

I'm currently writing JUST GIVE IN, Book 3 in the Hart of Texas trilogy, and rather than talk about a past book, I thought I'd blog about the one I'm working on now. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth (think root canal) to write a book, but sometimes they are like a trip to Disneyworld. All fun and laughs and it's not hard to stay motivated to write because I'm enjoying the story so much. This book is that much fun.

I think a big part of the reason is because of my hero. He's completely old-school. A man of few words, resourceful, brave, doesn't complain, and he is very much an engineer who takes things that people have thrown out and fixes them, or else crafts them into something new.

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Wine Bottle Lights

When I grew up, we didn't have a lot of money, and so my father would make the rounds at the junkyard, picking up scrap and building us toys. We were the only kids on the block with a rickshaw. I have a stool made out of a metal tractor seat. We have a lamp in the living room that's a painted water pump, and then there's the bell. When I was a kid, we had this HUGE bell with a hand crank. When Mom wanted us home, she'd ring the bell and the entire neighborhood knew that supper was on the O'Reilly's table.

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Not quite the O'Reilly richshaw, but close

I love that ability to fix things, to make things, to make a beercan-shooting cannon out of the lemons that someone else has thrown in the trash. The research for this book has been a blast, and I've been playing with circuits and wires and LEDS and batteries.

My father taught me how to fix things. I can follow a set of instructions, I'm pretty good with tools, but I still don't understand how an engine works, and I can't visualize in 3-D like my father or my DH can.

I love the engineers of the world. My Dad's an engineer, my DH can fix pretty much anything, and thus, my hero in JUST GIVE IN. He can fix anything. He can craft anything. He's simply the best.

And by the way, on Tuesday my father turns ninety years old. He still goes to the junkyard twice a week, digging for things to fix, or scrap metal to resell, or old computers that he can cannibalize. Sometimes the best heroes are the ones closest to home.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

So, what's the verdict here? Any other engineers out there? Can you fix things, or do you hire out?