Paige Hawthorne: Blog

Ever so many of you have asked how my editors are doing now that they have finished working on "Winter's Woes." Very thoughtful of you.

These wary, beleaguered editors - Thorny, Steve, and Mike - slogged their way through this sodden account like real troupers. This time around only two of them required prolonged bedrest. Unfortunately the third has become overly intimate with a certain Kentucky-distilled product.

I'm relying on you not to tell them that I am toiling away on yet another Winter story; recuperation could be affected.

Paige

So many readers have asked me why I consistently write my Winter stories in such a rigid chapter capture. Well, technically, no one has actually inquired about that particular subject. But I imagine ever so many of you are curious.

Here's the why behind the what:

Check out one of my story pages. The one where you click on which chapter you want to read. You'll note that there are precisely three rows of four chapters each. And four columns of three chapters each. Symmetry.

Or OCD.

Paige

Someone pointed out that I've been nominated for something called the Clitorides Award. New to me and news to me.

Now I'm in favor - culturally-driven mutilation aside - of most things clit. In my fiction and in my life. But what about a writing award named after an intimate body part? This deponent knoweth not.

Should you wish to voice some positive affirmation for the Winter series, the Clitorides link is in the left-hand column of this site's home page. Once you're in, some of you may be able to figure out what to do next.

For those who don't plan to vote for Winter, the polls are closing … now.

I have garnered two votes, two more than I had planned on, since I know nuttin' from nuttin'. I may well have poll-peaked because I don't vote for myself.

Paige

Several readers have pointed out the similarities between my fictional 'Kill Zone' in Columbus Ohio and the real-life nightmare in Nevada.

In describing a planned massacre in "Winter's Woes", I wrote:

Hank said, "We're pretty sure about most of this. KZ stands for Kill Zone. The FreedomRiders are starting to organize a massive rally in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Thousands of white supremacists."

Nobody knows how many America Nazis are out there. Thousands and thousands, and that might be conservative.

Daddy and I listened. "Dozens of Idaho FreedomRiders will be on rooftops. In hotel rooms, offices facing the street. Automatic weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, the works."

Daddy spoke quietly, "They're going to kill everyone."

Hank nodded, "Everyone. Skinheads, supremacists, KKK. And counter-protesters. Liberals, college kids, mothers. Civilians. The attendance levels will be significant, post-Charlottesville.


Was I prescient? No, not at all. Anyone who thinks about mass murders could figure out practical, and dystopian, methods of ensuring mass casualties.

I waited several days after the Vegas attack to post this. Respect.

Paige

Yes, "Winter's Woes" is finished, the final chapter finally posted. But that doesn't necessarily mean you've seen the back of me. Not necessarily.

I could always write another story, you know. So you Winter-deriders may someday be subjected to yet another … Winter onslaught. That's right, better try to stuff that champagne cork back in the celebration bottle.

Now I realize that the threat of an additional narrative concerns not only discerning readers, but three cowering editors - - Thorny, Steve, and Mike. Who have been desperately trying to dissociate themselves from the series. Tough. Noogies. As we say on the playground of life.

Sorry not sorry.

Paige