A couple of weeks ago when Emma called me up and said, “Hey we’re doing a short story anthology,” I thought FUN! No really I did! (And I never heard the word “erotica” LOL) Then I talked to Jackie and she suggested I do (a story about–gutter brains!) a secondary character from one of my published stories. I thought GREAT IDEA. I really did…but then … I didn’t.
A writer’s head is a very strange place to be and I had these characters I’d been playing with and I thought they’d make a great Christmas/12th Night story. Except I went ten rounds trying to find the opening. Maybe twelve. It was ugly but I wasn’t defeated yet. No, that didn’t happen until much later!

I wish I could tell you that Wherever You Are is about two hot young things steaming up the sheets over Christmas–but it’s not.
I wish I could tell you that there were no kids in this story–but there are.
I wish I could tell you there is no angsty family drama in this story–but there is. Because I love Angsty Family Drama like a fat kid loves cake. And if I had to compare this story to any published story I’ve written, it’d be Once in a Blue Moon.

But what I really want to talk about is the hero of this story.  You see, Rick Kendall is a paraplegic (which I can now and forevermore spell correctly).  And I now know more than I ever dreamed about some of the challenges paraplegics face–though what I know is only the tip of the iceberg.  For what it’s worth, I didn’t just arbitrarily say, “Hey, I’ll make my hero a paraplegic!  That’ll be fun.” *snort*  On the contrary, Rick came complete with wheelchair.  And while I figured the life of a paraplegic was challenging (to say the least), I had no idea all that it entailed which meant…research.

That’s where I got my ass kicked.  Especially when it came to paraplegic men and sex.  I did the best I could.  I really did and if I totaly FUBAR’d it, I can only offer my most sincere apologies–and that goes for everything pertaining to living life as a paraplegic–though I will admit that, in a short story format I just didn’t have the room to give it the depth it deserved .

Matter of fact, I didn’t have the room to give any of the conflicts touched upon in WHEREVER YOU ARE the depth they probably deserved (again, my apologies) but, for what it’s worth, I’m far from done with Rick, Joe, Gretchen, Jessie….and the rest of their families. 

I want to take a second and thank the people who helped me–since a short story is kind of a weird place for an acknowledgement page: To Jackie for putting up with me going over my word count and putting up with me freaking out and being so damn late–thank you for your patience!  To Dennie and Raine for talking me off the ceiling Sunday afternoon–I so owe you both.  To Dee Carney–also for talking me off the ceiling and passing on a fantastic link—*smooch*! To my cousin who has TONS of years in the legal system, my BFF’s sister, Stacy for her CJ degree and to my BFF and my aunt who were both once foster mom’s thank you all for sharing your knowledge and not thinking my questions were stupid

And lastly to Bon Jovi for the title.…

You can DL Wherever You Are from my blog here.