When I stopped posting to my blog in early 2016, it was never my intention to be gone this long. I even hate to admit how long it has been, but not every year turns out the way you had planned. But I’m back and thrilled to be posting again. So from the three of us, Pat, Darcy, and Bullet, we wish you, our readers and blog subscribers, the best in 2017.
I call 2016 my building block year. The long tradition of naming my years originates with dear family friends Bob and Ginger, who asked back in 1988 for a yearly newsletter rather than a Christmas card. The titles for these newsletters were a summation or a highlight of that particular year. For example: Traipsing Across the Globe, New Kid in Town, Knee-Deep in Gadgets . . . you get the picture.
Sadly, Ginger passed away some years ago, but I continued my tradition with Bob until he passed on as well. This past Thanksgiving I found myself thinking of Bob and Ginger and our annual newsletter. In 2016 I built a foundation for the future of the Darcy McClain and Bullet Thriller Series. As the release of Genocide (book three) approached, I knew I needed to implement a sound marketing plan, but what I needed even more was a good publicist, someone who could assume that responsibility, allowing me to return to what I love best—writing.
Last year started as a footrace and the marathon continued into the summer—designing a new website, brainstorming a comprehensive marketing plan, reviewing multiple edits of Genocide, and revising large sections of Clonx (book four), not to mention working on long, detailed summaries for two new books in the thriller series. When creativity strikes, you need to respond and record.
In early August 2016 the unthinkable occurred: our giant schnauzer Kai died of lymphosarcoma at the young age of seven. The pain of his loss overshadowed my desire to press on with the series. I knew I would at some point, but I needed time to grieve and to deal with his sudden passing, and under this shadow the rest of 2016 just slipped away.
The only consolation during this sorrowful period came on October 26, when a friend and fellow giant schnauzer owner paid us a visit and brought along Tonka, the rescue she was fostering. We weren’t ready for another giant, but his owner had died and Tonka needed a forever home. After a five-minute meet and greet, we decided his new home should be with us.
His name certainly suited him. Tonka, in the language of the Lakota people (of the Sioux tribes), means great or large, but we soon grew tired of people calling him Tonka Toy and renamed him in the spirit of the two giants (Shotz and Kai) who had gone before, and whose personalities had shaped the giant in my thriller series. First in fiction and now in real life, Bullet had been rescued.
I wished we had had the foresight to reserve tickets to see the Lipizzaner stallions perform at the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg, but we did not, so we had to settle for a stroll around the area and hope we might spot one. I was crossing a narrow section of street when I heard rapid footsteps behind me and someone calling out, “Excuse. Excuse.” I turned to see a man motioning for traffic to move on and for arriving vehicles to stop. I was confused as to what he was making way for. Then I saw them, and my heart skipped a beat. A training session had just ended, and the Lipizzaner horses, guided by their trainers, were being led back to their stables. I love horses but have never had the desire to own one—until I saw . . . him. At one point, he was so close that I felt his breath on the back of my neck. I had goose bumps all over. It was definitely one of the high points of the trip and a topic of many conversations. Not much could top this experience, but we moved on once the stallions disappeared and foot and vehicle traffic returned to normal.
Our next destination was Stephansplatz. The square has an interesting mix of old and new architectural styles, and I wanted to photograph them as well as St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the heart and soul of the square. As the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna, St. Stephens is one of Vienna’s most important and symbolic buildings. The roof of this fourteenth-century Romanesque and Gothic cathedral is its glory, an ornately patterned multicolored roof covered with over 230,000 glazed tiles. The roof is so steep that rain alone keeps it clean and snow seldom covers it.
For us, no trip to Vienna would be complete without a leisurely walk through Stadtpark, the city park. It stretches along both banks of the Wein and was opened in 1862. As classical music lovers, we couldn’t resist spending some time with Mozart, even if we were only gazing upon his statue, and of course we also stopped to photograph other famous Austrian composers such as Johann Strauss II, and not far from Stadtpark, Beethoven.
As evening drew near, with only a light breakfast and snack of coffee and Sacher torte to eat all day, we thought of dinner. We had worked up an appetite by the time we reached Figlmüller and were seated. The restaurant serves a delicious wiener schnitzel that is thirty inches in diameter, golden brown, and downright delicious.The next morning, I returned to the Spanish Riding School with hopes of catching another glimpse of a Lipizzaner stallion, but to no avail. After a twenty-minute wait, Dave talked me into breakfast at Café Central. Then, we crossed the street to our hotel to pack and leave for the airport, sorry to say goodbye to Vienna but glad to be headed home.