What they're saying

"Walking Between The Raindrops" is finding its way into new homes everywhere and we're starting to get some feedback. People have thoughtfully sent posts to let us know they've received their copy and that they really like the look of it, are surprised at the "heft" of it and plan to read it as soon as possible. I'm going to share with you what people tell me about the book.

"Amazon delivered the book this afternoon and I can't put it down, Mary Roland. Your writing is captivating, but I've got to get some sleep. Haha. I'll finish it this weekend. Your ordeal was terrifying enough before I knew all the details. God answered all those prayers going up for Paul & you. God is good." Barbara G, Texas

"It's heart-wrenching." "Just sends chills down my spine. Thank goodness you guys had the Lord to see you through." Sharon R, Michigan

I agree with them that God is good and He was with us every step of the way even when we weren't sure He was there.

Los Zetas Cartel - Gone or Rebuilding?

Tying up the end bits of the book and doing a little fact-checking gave me quite a surprise recently. With the arrest of Miguel Trevino and the noticeable decrease in articles about border violence in local news, I was beginning to think that the Los Zetas cartel had splintered into little factions that were south of the border and losing steam. I was wrong. A documentary online recently quoted a government spokesman as saying that Los Zetas were considered the "most technologically advanced, sophisticated, and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico." It went on to say that Los Zetas controlled most of Mexico and was intent on crossing the border to take control of our country as well. An expert that I respect from Stratfor.com, a recognized intelligence resource across all party lines, confirmed their power in Mexico still and that their operation is still based primarily out of Nuevo Laredo (across the U.S. border from Laredo, Texas). Online chatter following the documentary was divided. Some people wrote that other cartels were bigger. Some railed on political themes. A few, the ones that gave me chills, were people writing about the horror of this cartel and what they'd seen firsthand. Others doubted that this cartel or any cartel could do much outside of Mexico.

I have no doubt that our country could defeat any incursion on its soil. I hope that our country can defend against the insidious spread of gang terror. Like black ink dropped into water, it can spread and contaminate every corner. Ask San Antonio, Houston and Dallas if the Los Zetas and other Mexican drug cartels are active within their cities recruiting young people into gangs to do their dirty work. Ask Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. Then ask Miami, New York and Detroit. I'm pretty sure they'll tell you "yes".

My point is that I discovered I'd become complacent and secure, lulled in the absence of immediate danger that my world was safe. If "Walking Between The Raindrops" does nothing else, my sincere prayer is that each reader never takes their world for granted but, instead, lives every day alive, awake and with purpose.

Happy 2015! The holidays are behind us and a bright shiny new year awaits. As I move forward with "Walking Between The Raindrops" and get closer to public release, I feel a mix of anticipation, relief and wistfulness. This has been a journey in every sense of the word. Where I was when it began and where I am now are different places completely. The same is true for Paul, too. Older, wiser and, I think more appreciative for every day since February 2008.

It seems only right that our project launch should be soon - close to the 7th anniversary of the event that changed our lives forever. Although I can't give an exact date, I can promise that it is going to happen soon, very soon.

CORA - Four-legged PTSD Therapy

There has been so much written about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) - soldiers coming back from battlefields, people who've survived disasters and people who've survived violent crime. These victims and their families endure the aftermath of whatever trauma has upended their lives in many different ways and for various lengths of time. Some never "get over it". Suicide, divorce and family devastation are too often the final chapters to these stories because there are few proven therapies and few trained therapists. Often, the therapy only focuses on the immediate victim - the soldier or the victim - and the people who make up that person's support system are either overlooked or, at best, given little more than a pat on the back.

"Dateline" aired a special three years ago - "The Desperate Hours" - which dealt with five kidnap-for-ransom cases from Mexico, Central and South America. All five men were rescued, either by ransom or by law enforcement, and all five had been married with families at the time of their kidnapping and rescue. Their stories were horrifying and miraculous. What stood out to me, however, was an end note: 'five years after they were rescued, only one couple remained married.' Could that happen to us? I knew the answer was "yes" because our family was splintering around the edges.

In searching for a therapy that would help Paul and I "move past" the trauma of his kidnapping, I found more and more articles written about "therapy" dogs and how these service animals produced faster and deeper healing than most traditional therapies, not only for the victim but for the victim's family as well. PTSD sufferers and their families were reporting less stress, better sleep and less depression. The more I read, the more shows like "60 Minutes" that covered the growing treatment and resulting success, the more convinced I was that no "person" could provide the therapy that Paul and I needed to move forward in our lives together.

Two years ago, we adopted Cora. She protects us. She knows when Paul is feeling anxious or down and soothes him. She "reads" us. It's amazing. She's taken over our home and our hearts, healing the wounds no traditional therapist ever came close to doing. She is love and trust and confidence in a fur coat. I am so glad that, in large part, because of Cora, more than five years later, "there's a smile on my face, knowing that together everything that's in our way, we're better than all right". (lyric from "Between The Raindrops"-Lifehouse and Natasha Bedingfield)

WALKING BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS - coming soon.

In the hands of professionals...

I have this dream that I'm watching a heart surgeon work on a patient. It's about the middle of a surgery, I think, because the chest is open, an ash-gray heart struggles to beat as stainless steel clamps and instruments flash like strobe lights above the patient's chest. There's a lot of blood and surgical assistants mop the brows of the surgeons. For some reason, I'm standing right there - gowned and masked - my gloved hands aloft in the "ready" position. I am not afraid. I am absorbed in the process. That is, until the surgeon turns to me and hands me the heart, the beating heart, and says, "Hold this for a moment. Don't let it fall." Then, I usually wake up.

Well, I feel like I'm the surgeon now and "Walking Between The Raindrops" is the heart. I've worked on it. I've massaged it. I've cut on it. Now, I have to "hand" it to someone else and let them do their part, trusting them to "not let it fall" but to make it thrive. Luckily, I'm confident that the editor that I've handed "Walking Between The Raindrops" to is going to help me do just that.

I'm so excited to announce that the manuscript is in the hands of a professional editor and once they're done, and corrections and changes are made, the book will finally be ready to launch!

Check back for more news coming soon!

Who would you pick?

A common remark throughout this experience has been, "This isn't like real life. This is like a movie!" Because I have a film background, the comparison isn't lost on me. As the book has taken form and all the details were written down, including reports, interrogations and testimony, it has often reminded me of writing a script.  Paul and I have even talked about who we would cast as key characters in a film version of "Walking Between The Raindrops".  

Here are our picks for "Walking Between The Raindrops" (fantasy movie) with Paul's choices first and mine 2nd.  Sometimes we agreed but most of the time, we didn't:

Character - Paul

or

Character - Tom

or

Character - Detective James Maugham (too late, we picked)

Character - Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann

or

Character - Sergeant Pete Hughey (again, too late, we picked)

Character - Jana McCown

or ??

Character - Michael Jarrett

or ??

Your turn. Don't feel like you have to cast them all - but pick one or two or more and tell me - who would you pick?

Cover art that captures the terror -

Cover art for a book is almost more important than what's inside - don't you think? I know I've often picked up a book for the cover when I wasn't familiar with the author.  If the synopsis sounded okay, I would buy the book.  But, initially, it was the cover that drew me to it. Some of my favorite authors got my attention, the first time, with carefully crafted book covers.

I had some general ideas for the cover of "Walking Between The Raindrops".  But I'm not a graphic artist by any stretch of the imagination. Our son Tim is very visually artistic and I believe his work, below, has conceptualized the story in a very compelling way.

Here, now - the cover...

What's in a name?

People have asked me about the title. Did I start with the title? Does it mean something special? No and yes. This book has had several working titles but this one is it. "Walking Between The Raindrops", the title, was inspired by a song I heard from the Almeria album of Lifehouse. "Between The Raindrops" is sung by Lifehouse and Natasha Bedingfield. What I heard was what Paul and I have lived and where we are now.

Writing this book has been easy and difficult, tearful and exultant, frightening and liberating and extremely painful yet healing. It started out simple but became complicated until, as if by itself, it simplified again.

Now that the first pass is done, I look at the editing to come with excitement. Writing is rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. I'm already editing in my mind as I write this! And then, when I'm through with my cuts, I will have other eyes find the mistakes, typos and narrative "fat" to be excised until only the best is left.  That's my prayerful hope.