Bad.

My arms, especially the left one. And this morning I have a newfound appreciation (and utter awe) for those who serve in law enforcement.

Yesterday I took a handgun class taught by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office at their Public Safety Training Center. I went with my RS-writing buddy, Kendra, and though I've never been big on loud noises, I have to say, it was great research. The one-day class was intensive - approx. 6 hrs of classroom instruction followed by 5 hrs on the range. We covered the basics of handgun use and mechanics, safety and responsibility. When we got to the range I ended up shooting a Croatian semi-automatic 9mm most of the day - the XD9. I thought I'd end up shooting a Glock (a lot did) but I found I liked the weight of the XD9 and it was a good fit for my hands. At the end of the day we got to sample other guns students were using in the class (and some that weren't), including a Glock 9mm (another one I liked), Glock .45 (wow, was that powerful!), .22 Ruger (I liked this one a lot, hardly any recoil), S&W revolver (really felt weird after shooting a semi-automatic all day long) and a Kahr 9mm (so light the recoil was horrendous).

Surprisingly, my accuracy was pretty spot-on when I took my time and focused in on the target, and even better when we did the rapid fire exercises, mostly I think because I sighted once and didn't give my brain a chance to over-analyze the trigger pull. (And yes, I know the target in the pic is upside down, we'd just switched them so we could shoot targets 4 & 5 when this pic was taken. Target #3 has a couple of bullet holes outside the oval, but only because the instructor pushed my target back because he said it was too easy for me. You really don't think 5 extra yards makes a huge difference, but it does!) At the end of the course we took a timed test which was required to pass the class - three shots, variations of 3, 5 and 7 seconds based on distance - and while I passed, my accuracy in the test wasn't nearly as good as the other exercises. The stress of the seconds ticking by really got to me!

Overall, it was a great day, and worth the soreness in my arms today. The pic to the left is Kendra and I mid-way through the course. I definitely see the allure in owning a handgun, going to the range and firing, though I don't think I'm ready to run out and buy one myself. There's a real sense of power when you're holding that gun in your hand and you know you have a live round in the chamber. And it's followed quickly by the reality that you're responsible for where that round goes and who/what it hits.

One funny thing that did happen...At the beginning of the class we had to go around and introduce ourselves, explain why we were there, etc. Now, keep in mind this is a gun class, therefore the instructors themselves are very pro-gun and right to bear arms, etc. I was first to go and told everyone I was a writer who was taking the class for research. A few of the other students thought that was cool, but the instructor simply nodded, then quickly moved on to the next person. Not that I expect everyone to be interested, but I did find it strange he didn't ask anything about my books or what I write and why this was important for my research. In the end, I figured he just wasn't much of a reader and shrugged it off. Well, at the first break everyone left the room and I stayed to ask some technical gun questions for my WIP and he looked at me with a wary expression and said, "So, you wouldn't happen to write for the Oregonian, would you?" For those of you who aren't familiar with the Pacific NW, The Oregonian is the biggest paper in Oregon (based in Portland) and very liberal. Very pro-gun control. I laughed and said, "Oh my gosh. No, I'm not a reporter. Don't worry. I write fiction." He breathed much easier after that and answered any and all of my questions. So much so in fact that I came home last night and immediately emailed my editor two minor changes to STOLEN FURY based on what I learned from him in the class.

If you write RS (or really any genre that includes handguns, no matter how minor), I highly recommend taking a class like this. Most of the actual class information you can find online - there really wasn't much technical I hadn't found through researching handguns myself - but that experience of holding the gun, loading, unloading, sighting and what it really feels like when you pull that trigger is one you can't get from research in a book or on the computer. The sound, the smell, the feel of hot metal as the case flies out of the slide and lands against your skin (yes, I know how it burns because it happened to me), it's priceless. And just shooting a handgun once won't give you the same experience. The whole first hour we were shooting I was really nervous, adrenaline was pumping, my hands were shaking and I jumped every time a gun went off in one of the booths next to me. By the end of the class, I hardly heard the sounds of gunfire around me, and the mechanics of loading, firing, unloading became second nature. I know my characters and the suspense portions of my books can only benefit from this class.

I'm going to leave you with a video they showed us in the class yesterday. This one really stuck with me. The DEA agent in this video is talking to a group of kids about handgun safety. He thinks the gun he has is unloaded. At one point he goes off camera and asks someone to check to make sure it's unloaded. They look and, since the magazine is out, hand it back. They don't, however, check the chamber.



This guy - this trained DEA agent - shot himself in the foot in the middle of this presentation. He's bleeding all over the floor and continues to talk to the kids, who are, of course, freaking out. Just goes to show, you have to be careful around guns no matter who you are.

Have you ever shot a handgun before? Do you own one? Do you have any desire to learn how to shoot, either for personal reasons or for research?

First item of importance - my cover flats for STOLEN FURY arrived yesterday from my publisher. And, um, can I just say...I'm in TOTAL FRICKIN' LOVE with this cover!!!!! I know I saw it in .jpg form already, but the real deal is sweet! The title's embossed, my name is embossed (and looks huge!) and the back and spine are just gorgeous. (I don't know why the spine excites me so much...maybe because it just looks so...real!!!) I've already gushed to my agent, my editor and my CPs. I know they're probably sick of hearing about this already but...oh well! I'm giddy all over again! Now I can't wait to see the book with pages inside.

So...busy day here today...I'm having my author photos taken this afternoon. I hope we get at least one good - usable - shot. We're also doing family pics afterwards with the same photographer (he's awesome), so I'm busily doing laundry, making sure everyone has something clean that matches. Last night I was up until one AM doing research on poisoning deaths for the wip. I ordered a bunch of books from amazon on poisonings, which I hope arrive ASAP. I'm at a point in the wip where I need this info like, now. I've contacted several people with my research questions about how to make a poisoning death look natural, and the best response I got came from my beta reader's brother (who is a PA in the local area). He said, "Um...does your husband know you're looking for this information?" I did have to laugh. I suppose if you didn't know I was a writer, it could raise all kinds of red flags.

Okay, off to heard gremlins. Will report back on the photo shoot later. And hopefully soon I'll have author pics to share - I'll probably need opinions on which one to go with.

Soulmates

How do you feel about the concept of soulmates in romantic fiction? Generally, I'm not wild about it - not in contemporary romances anyway. The idea that there's only one person you're destined for . . . it kind of negates the whole "free will" thing in my head. I think people make choices - especially in relationships - and romantic fiction is no different. If you're open to new experiences and people you'll find the person who's right for you. Does that make them your soulmate? I don't know. I think it makes you lucky.

The whole soulmate thing seems to come up more in paranormal romance than any other subgenre that I've seen. And ironically, I'm okay with it here. Probably because in paranormal fiction the hero or heroine are enough outside the realm of "contemporary normal" for me to buy into it. Yesterday I happened to be looking up when Kresley Cole's newest paranormal will be released and saw a discussion thread about soulmates. The title was "Soulmates In Romances - I'm Sick of Them!" Turns out the original poster was sick of them, but the majority of people who responded said if done well, they enjoyed them.

I found the whole discussion sort of fascinating because I'm in revisions on my para RS and I've taken a strange twist on the whole soulmate thing. Yeah, I included a soulmate element, but not in the traditional sense. To me it works, but it will be interesting to see what my CPs and agent think when they read it.

So how about you...do you like soulmate books, not like them, really don't have an opinion? I'm curious.