WHAT WILL YOUR LEGACY BE?

Sandra Orchard here

With the release this month of Shades of Truth, the second novel in my Undercover Cops series, I've been thinking about legacies. That's because the heroine in my book is battling to preserve her father's legacy at any cost.

Legacies can take many forms. It could be an example of a life well lived, of faith that remained steadfast through life's storms. Or as in the case of my novel, the faith-based youth detention center that the heroine's father founded.

My mom's lovingly knitted articles are part of the legacy she left her children and grandchildren.

Being a romantic suspense writer, I fondly refer to this pair as my hero and heroine mascots, and the cavalier fellow below is my dastardly villain.

In my March release, Shades of Truth, the heroine battles to save the youth center her father founded, and discovers villains aren't always what they seem.

Big city detective Ethan Reed is working deep undercover at a Christian youth detention center. The kind of place he spent some harrowing time in as a kid. Ethan's mission: ferret out who's recruiting resident teens for a drug ring. He expects help from the lovely, devoted director of Hope Manor. But Kim Corbett won't tell Ethan anything, even when she's threatened and attacked. When Ethan discovers what Kim is protecting, his guarded heart opens just a bit wider. Enough to make this the most dangerous assignment of his career.

Your Turn: What kind of legacy have your parents or grandparents left you, or are you leaving for your loved ones?

Check out my contest for readers HERE

Write Off the Deep End

Sandra Orchard, here, filling in for your regularly scheduled program. ~grin~

Pay attention. There will be a test. There will be prizes.

Shades of Truth has officially released and it should be in stores by the weekend!!!

What does that have to do with writing off the deep end?!

Allow me to introduce my fellow Wodians. So named for our writing group: WODE--which stands for Write Off the Deep End.

Readers and writers alike often ask me about my writing process. These ladies are a big part of it. Once a month we get together to offer each other feedback on what we've written or to brainstorm new story ideas.

The group "found me" a few years ago after my RWA magazine was delivered to the wrong house. (Divine redirection!) The recipient was so excited to find another writer in our community that she hand-delivered the magazine and invited me to the next WODE meeting.

She has since become a treasured critique partner. On my own blog a few months ago I shared the grocery store murder discussion. That was with her. :)

In honor of the positive impact WODE has had on my writing career, I used the "word" WODE in Shades of Truth.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find the location and email me the page number (and book version) by midnight June 1st. :) In June, I will draw from a hat the name (of all correct answers) and they will receive a $25 gift certificate for their favorite book retailer.

Your Turn: Do you have a special friend or group with which you share a common interest or hobby or pursuit?

Shades of Truth Interview

Today we're welcoming Ethan Reed, the hero of Shades of Truth, written by Sandra Orchard, a March 2012 release by Love Inspired Suspense.

Wow, you've just had quite an adventure.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be in the midst of such suspense.

I’m a police detective from Toronto. The Niagara Regional police chief needed an officer to secretly come in from outside their force to work an undercover operation that might implicate one of their own. Since I’d recently been shot in the line of duty, it was easy to feign the desire to quit and move into a quieter line of work (i.e. a counselor at Hope Manor, a faith-based youth detention facility in Niagara).

2. So, during the book you met Kim Corbett. Tell us a bit about her. What was your first impression? When did you know it was love?

Kim is an amazing woman. If I’d had someone like her championing me when I was a teen, I would have turned my life around a lot sooner. She’s as loyal as they come. She genuinely believes in people and wants the best for them and will do anything to help them reach their potential. I love how she isn’t afraid to stand up to me. I love her refusal to give up on the kids at the manor. I love that she trusted me enough to let me do my job even though it threatened everything she’d worked for. Early on I started wondering what it would be like to be loved by a woman like Kim, but it took me a long time to admit my feelings.

3. What strengths/skills do you have? What is your greatest weakness?

I’m good at my job as a cop, a quick thinker, but some would say I’m reckless. I guess that’s because I don’t value my own life over another’s.

4. What scares you?

Messing up. I don’t want to see another person get hurt because I didn’t do what I should. If only succeeding on this mission didn’t mean destroying everything Kim’s trying to protect.

5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My last day of school the year I was 16. My actions that day cost too much.

6. Where are you in your faith at the start of your story?

I believe in God. I’m happy enough working to get bad guys off the street. It’s the least I can do, considering what my mistake cost Joy. I’ll do whatever I have to do to deserve her forgiveness.

7. Where are you in your faith at the end of the story? I finally believe that God can forgive me anything, does forgive me, and I’ve finally forgiven myself.

8. You've got a scripture at the end of the story. Tell us why this scripture is significant.

“The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” Isaiah 65:17b reminds me that God doesn’t look back and neither should I.

9. If you could be a dessert what would you be and why?

A Rice Krispie square. Easy to take anywhere. Never falls apart. Plain, but good. Never get tired of having them. Can fancy it up with Christmas sprinkles on top.

Going Back to School to Learn our Stuff...

Hi, Sandra Orchard here to tell you about the Writer’s Police Academy, one of the many ways we romantic suspense authors hone our suspense writing skills. And come home with a cool T-shirt!

The event is held annually at an actual police training facility and offers an incredible array of hands-on, interactive and educational experiences to enhance a writer’s understanding of all aspects of law enforcement and forensics.


First there’s the equipment

On opening day, almost every imaginable law enforcement and rescue vehicle was assembled in the parking lot, and officers were on hand to answer our questions about the equipment. In addition to the sheriff and police command-post trucks pictured, there were motorcycles, cruisers, a fire engine, ambulance, bomb retrieval (that’s little R-2D-2 in the picture), dive team equipment, riot gear, and more weapons than an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

Nothing like handling the equipment, and talking to the officers who use it to add realism to your descriptions.

Second came the classes:

We could choose from a vast array of classes such as handcuffing techniques, fingerprinting, forensics, jail search, arson investigation, pepper spray demonstration—yes, one brave officer let himself be sprayed, crash investigation, tools of the trade, sprinkler demonstrations, the list goes on, and… my favorite, undercover work. Considering that I had just signed a contract for the first book in my “Undercover Cops” series with Love Inspired Suspense, I was anxious to glean all that I could from this class. Not only did Marco Conelli, former undercover cop turned writer, share many of his experiences, he gave us glimpses of what went on in his head and heart during that time, which is where the real meat of my heroes’ stories lie.

On Day Two…

We arrived at the academy not knowing what to expect. It was kept very hush, hush. We were divided into two groups and ushered into the school one group at a time and stationed in the hall. You need to understand that this is an actual college and students were in classes. Suddenly an armed gunman, wearing a conference ID tag just like the rest of us came charging down the hall.

Within minutes police swarmed the hall, took down the gunman, waited for the paramedics to assess him as others secured the building. One officer kept his weapon trained on the downed gunman until the paramedics ran a strip and confirmed he was dead. Officers then escorted the hostages out of the school to be interrogated separately.

You’ll notice in the picture that the hostages are escorted with their hands on their heads because they have no way of knowing if the gunman had an armed partner. Then we observed the paramedics treating a bullet wound in one of the victims.

Afterward, we were told that we’d observed a “Rapid Deployment Demonstration” provided by local law enforcement & GTCC students.

As a writer, being in the middle of it, hearing the shouts, gunshots, crying students, tasting the fear and panic and desperation, feeling the cloying atomosphere, I was able to absorb much that I can now write into scenes in my novels.

FATS

Fire Arms Simulation Training was an added bonus for attending the academy.

We were given Glocks and faced with a floor to ceiling screen that showed videos of shoot and don’t shoot situations like the one pictured above in which the driver jumped out of the car and grabbed the officer from behind. Obviously, I (the partner back in the cruiser) can barely see the suspect, let alone take him down.

When we took a shot, the hit would show on the screen. We were surprised more than once by the post-simulation explanation of why we should have, or shouldn’t have, taken a shot.

For example, in one depiction a man held a baby in a car seat and was wielding a knife yelling at us to stay back. We’re calmly telling him to drop the weapon, unwilling to shoot because the guy might drop the baby! He’s not listening so our shouts grow more urgent. I don’t recall if a single one of us took a shot, because of the danger to the baby. The officer conducting the training told us after the scenario that any officer unable to take that shot would be kicked out of the academy. The man was a serious threat to the life of the baby and the officers and was not responding to instructions.

The most adrenaline-pumping moment for me was when I had to face a hostage taker alone in an office (as depicted on screen). A disgruntled employee had his boss in an arm lock and was waving a gun. I was telling him to put down the weapon, that he really didn’t want to do this etc. But to no avail. All the while, I trained my own weapon at the guy’s head—the only part of his body visible past the hostage. The instant he lifted his gun, I took the shot.

The guy’s brains splattered on the wall behind (yes, it looked as gross as it sounds). The officer in charge of the simulation turned to me and said, “Great shot.”

I pretty much freaked out on him, saying that I could have hit the hostage. I was shaking, heart pounding. It was unbelievable. It gave me a whole new perspective on the split second decisions officers are called upon to make and the emotional havoc it can wreak afterward.

The emotional havoc of being an undercover officer is what I explore in my Undercover Cops series, for which I found lots of fodder at the academy.

The Plot Thickens

Sandra Orchard here to help kick off romantic suspense month.

Ahh, February…romance is in the air!

Once friends find out I write for “Harlequin”, they like to tease my hubby with questions such as: So what’s it like to be married to a romance writer? ~Elbow. Elbow. Wink. Wink.~

Well, let me tell you. It’s not all fun and games. Sure hubby’s happy to help inspire me when I need to experiment with a kiss to get all the details right.

But I’m an inspirational writer so it never gets any further than that, much to my hubby’s disappointment I’m sure.

Besides, I’m not really a romance writer. I’m a romantic suspense writer.

So more often than not, I’m contemplating means of killing people, and more importantly, how to get away with it.

This can be quite uncomfortable for my family. Especially if they happen to notice my book of poisons sitting on the counter as they sit down to dinner.

Did you know that too much…?

Hmm, never mind, I’d better not reveal that. I’m planning to use the tidbit in my next book.

My family has learned to take my quirky ways in stride. My hubby is quick to assure people that it’s not him I’m planning to do away with when after I ask, “How could someone in your profession get away with murder?”

Most of the time, people warm right up to the subject. After all, be honest, how many of you have never contemplated how you might kill someone?

I’ve had a lot of fun with this line of questioning.

One time on the way to the airport following a writer’s conference, I shared a cab with a forensic pathologist. I was working on a mystery in which I killed someone by… hmm, won’t give that one away either.

Let’s just say by an ingenious means.

So I asked him, “If I killed someone by such and such a means, would you be able to detect that?”

The cabbie’s gaze shot to the rearview mirror. After the pathologist said, “No,” and I rubbed my hands in glee, I think the cabbie spent more time eyeing the rearview mirror than the road.

We made it to the airport in record time.

Then in the plane, I sat beside an aviation inspector. This was a divine meeting since I’d written a plane crash story that I wanted to tweak, and I had a two-hour flight to pick this guy’s brain about the myriad of reasons a plane might go down, and how.

Let me tell you, if you knew this stuff, you’d think twice before you got on a plane. I’m pretty sure the woman in front of us clutching her armrests was.

I could go and on with examples of ideas that have blossomed from the most innocuous situations.

Of course, there are drawbacks to having such an active imagination. It makes relaxing difficult.

This past summer while kayaking with the family, I couldn’t help but notice how easy it would be to sneak up on someone’s house from the water. My daughter who is also a writer locked right onto the idea and before you knew it we were spinning a tale of mystery and mayhem, and eyeing suspiciously every person who paddled by.

Of course, while I have a lot of fun writing my heroes and heroines into the worst situations imaginable, in the end, with the love of God and a good woman, the good guys triumph.

Check out how much trouble I get my characters into in my March LIS release now available on Harlequin.


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