Technology. Drives me crazy sometimes. It's really silly - I use it every day, probably more than I should. But there's a part of me that would like to purge all technology from my life. Honestly, do I need to carry a phone with me to the gym? Am I that important? And how many authors wrote their books long-hand, instead of on a typewriter or computer? But then, I wonder if I could live without a blow dryer...air conditioning... I don't think so.

As I am writing, I have two computers in front of me. I have our bulky, slow, old-fashioned desktop, and my little netbook that I use for writing. Turns out that the netbook is faster online, so we use it a lot to check email and such. The old desktop was really fast when we got it. It's been a good computer. But it's aging, as we all do. I've used it for just about everything - particularly storing baby pictues of my three awesome kids.

I have the screensaver set to run a slide show of those pictures. It's neat to see the kids as babies. They like to come in and see themselves, too. So while I'm writing on my netbook, I get to see my kids through the years. Sure - I could go buy a digital frame, but this works nicely.

The most recent slideshow made me think of my writing. Three pictures showed each of my kids in their bald, toothless phase of babydom. My debut novel is another baby (of a different kind, of course!) I started thinking ahead five or ten years. Will I look back at this novel and think, "Oh, how cute. Look at that! I remember that day..." Will I be able to grow that much as an author?

I hope so. I hope that this novel is just the beginning of something grand! And not to bring glory to myself. I don't want it. No - that belongs to the Crown. The Master. To my Lord and Savior.

I'm grateful for technology, even if I do find it a curse sometimes. Without it, I wouldn't have a slew of pictures to enjoy. And I probably would have lost patience and given up writing. (And I'd be dying of heat! Let's hear it for air conditioning!) Creation finds a way, though. And aren't we glad?

Yeah, this was all kind of convoluted. But it made sense in my head at the time.

When I was a kid, my dad rode a Harley. He was the coolest biker dude ever! I loved riding that bike with him. We lived in the rocky mountains of Colorado. The bike was a beautiful candy apple red. I remember riding up and down the Ute Pass, nearly touching the road with every turn. Even my younger brother would ride. My mom would strap him to my dad with a belt. When they came home, my brother - a baby at the time - would be asleep.

This was way before I knew anything about that dreadful term: "mid-life crisis."

I just saw a picture of someone I know on a motorcycle. Someone that I knew well as a kid. And because of that, I still see this particular someone as a kid. I thought, "Why is that person on a motorcycle?!"

Then I started thinking about it. I am now about the same age my dad was when he started riding bikes.

Aw, man! Does that mean the mid-life crisis is about to set in?!

At least I had my answer. Now, I'm not going to go out and buy a Harley. Makes me laugh that other people I know have done just that. I don't know what my mid-life crisis will involve. Maybe I already had mine. Maybe I'm in the throes of it, but God chose to offset it with my getting published. Maybe it's yet to come. Whatever. I'm not worried about it.

I've heard that mid-life crises are just a bunch of hooey. They don't really happen. Well, I think the Harley dealership might disagree. At any rate, I have to laugh. It's silly how we humans react to things sometimes. Like a bike is going to make a person younger...

 A time machine, on the other hand...

For several years now, I've kept my writing to myself. Yes, I've shared it with a few select readers, but it was really a private thing. Now that my book is coming out (eeeeeeeeeeeee!), many more people will have access to my words, my thoughts - my heart. Crazy thing, I tell you! And I couldn't be happier!

When people hear that I have a book coming out, they ask the big question, "What is it about?"

Well, I know the answer. But I always end up in a more complex description than they want to hear. It's super hard to talk about my book for some reason! I need to come up with some little quip. A lot of times, I say, "It's Christian science-fiction," and leave it at that. Doesn't do the job really. I started thinking about it this morning as I went to work out. What is my book about?

The overlying story doesn't have a whole lot to do with this particular novel. I'm talking about the cosmic battle between the Logia and the Strages. The Ghosts - consisting of supporters of the Logia and the Logia themselves, are duking it out with the Progressive Legacy, which has the Strages at its helm. Basically, a big war between the good guys and the bad guys.

So with that said, stripped down to the bare bones, Asylum is about a man in search of his wife who is in the clutches of the Legacy.

I could add more details. Lots more. I mean, hey...I wrote the book, right? But I'm finding that the one line is all people want.

It's about this guy named Chase. He's a Logia - a gifted follower of Prince Ternion, who is also known as the Ruler Prince and the former ruler of the Circeae System. Chase is a Ghost - a band of people who fight for freedom from the Progressive Legacy. His wife, Trista, ends up in the hands of the Legacy. Chase, on a mission to find her, is arrested and sentenced to an insane asylum. He riots and takes over the ship, only to find his wife onboard. But she's different and doesn't remember him. Lots more stuff happens - a grand escape, ships explode. It's pretty cool, I must say.

Yeah...I guess I'll have to work on this.