It’s deep winter in paranormal 2011 Portland. A dry cold snap over new year’s eve week froze everything to fine ice.  All creatures, human, animal and other, huddle where there is warmth and comfort from the chill. The dry weather resulted in unusual clear winter nights with thick stars rarely seen when the skies are full of gray rain clouds.  This writer loves the juxtaposition of bone chill cold with crystal clear nights…The dim, early morning rays soaking the downtown in tones of gleaming pink and gold. A beautiful, devastating time, holding the promise of spring, yet forcing us to take our satisfaction in such moments of winter beauty, even as we long for the warmth of summer sun.

In this winter in particular, I feel the Goddess and the divine feminine stirring my heart and imagination like no other time in my life.  A dramatic winter solstice and beginning of the new year are bringing a heightened awareness of the heartbeats of the paranormal creatures. Slow and steady, my other worldly creatures wait for the cold to end, and they wait for my words to begin again. They know, more than anyone, of the romance that has taken over my life in real time and replaced the ones in my stories. My vampires and shape-shifters are amused by my distraction, pacing in their dens and basements, hidden in Forest Park and deep caves in the mountains of the Gorge.  Their conceit tells them soon I will be telling their stories again, painting their lives with my sentences and passion.