Climbing the Lighthouse

Scenes from St. Augustine: The St. Augustine Lighthouse.

My photo doesn't do justice to the sheer size of this building. When you're standing on the ground, looking up, it's huge -- you have to tilt your head back to see it all. If you're from Manhattan or Atlanta or anywhere there are tall buildings, no big deal. But when you live in an area where the tallest buildings are five or six stories tall, this thing is massive.

The lighthouse has 219 steps, in the circular stairways I showed you yesterday. It's fourteen stories tall. The area around it is beautiful and the view when you get to the top is stunning.

Being in St. Augustine for a week while editing HEARTS AWAKENED was a special treat for me. I was immersed in Mark (Cookie) and Tori's story, part of which takes place in St. Augustine, which holds many of the secrets of Mark's past. It had been five years since our last visit to the Oldest City, and I loved rediscovering all of my favorite places while finding new ones. After climbing the lighthouse, I did manage to work it into the dialogue and even into Mark's past, although I didn't set a scene there. Everywhere we went, I'd think, "Hey, Mark and Tori went here. Or this is where they were when . . ."

And I took photos. Lots and lots of photos.

Hearts Awakened is due to release in September, so look in late August, early September for a virtual book setting tour -- photos of the setting to whet your appetite. I love their story and I'm excited about the upcoming release, so be prepared -- I'll probably be talking about it a lot.

I'm also excited about Something More, Troy Lee's story. I passed the halfway mark on it yesterday! It's really closely linked to Mark's book and actually interleaves with it in a couple of places, something I've never tried before.

So the writing is good. I'm no longer standing at the base of the lighthouse, looking up. I'm about halfway there, looking out the window. 39,000 more words and I'll be here, gazing miles out to sea:

Another scene from St. Augustine: The awesome view from the top of the lighthouse, gazing out at the Atlantic Ocean.