An end to the holidays

Well, it didn't happen like Kim and I had planned but the holidays come to an end tomorrow. Unfortunately I've had bronchitis the last 3 or 4 days which has kept me from doing some of the things I had wanted to....like go to work tonight.  :)  Connor, Heather, and Amber all left for home today and I'm already terribly sad and missing Connor tremendously. He and I have such a good time together and he enjoys it here in Texas whenever he can come. Amber and Heather had plenty of time with their friends and sister Megan but I sure would have liked to spend more time with them for Christmas. We had so much planned that we didn't do like ty dyeing t shirts and stuff, we didn't do it because we were incomplete. Anyway, Connor enjoyed ice skating, the movie Tron, the Tarantula train from Grapevine to the stockyards, and so many other things. It was a good few days with him. I can't wait until I get to see him again.

I've written my 2nd article for the Mormon Times but it has not been edited yet. I haven't written anything new in the Ireland book for a couple of weeks but look forward to that opportunity when I start my new shift at work. Terminal A section A1...I'll be working on live planes again instead of driving or parking them.

Been an emotional week.....I hope the recovery comes quickly...

Published in the Mormon Times online edition

It's been a while since posting and this is for good reason, I was waiting for today!

This morning my first travel blog was published in "The Mormon Times" online edition. It's the story about my daughter Amber and I traveling to Thailand to see the tigers of the Buddhist Tiger Temple. I hope you will all read and enjoy the blog because there are many more to follow.

Because of my job with American Airlines, I have the opportunity to travel a lot. I love the other cultures I've visited and have tried to express my admiration and interest by writing my novels. Now I have another voice with the newspaper and I'm going to take every advantage of it.

Thanks to my beautiful wife Kim. Her encouragement and support have been immense. I could not have done any of this without her. Her knowledge of the English language and her own creative writing ability is THE reason why I'm published and why I love to write. Thanks sweetheart.
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/19018/A-thrilling-visit-to-the-Buddhist-Tiger-Temple

Bangkok and the Tiger Temple blog

My first blog has been accepted by Deseret News Corporation for the Mormon Times! Not sure if this means it will definitely be in print or not but its gone to the editors and hopefully will be on the online version soon. My thanks to Kim for proofing it for me and tweaking it in ways that only made it better. Thanks to Amber for going on such an amazing trip with me a few years ago. We played with actual tigers!

Next blog idea will be Ghent Belgium and the castle of the counts.....hopefully we can keep this ball rolling. Getting my name out there is a huge thing because I need help promoting my novels. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Bitz and Pieces

I've been at work 9 hours already and still have 5 1/2 to go. While I've been sitting here a few thoughts have crossed my mind....here they are

I have 25 copies of Whispers from the Past available. It would make a great Christmas present for teens or older. If anyone would like one please contact me or go to Amazon.com where its still available as a paperback or for the kindle.

Flew to Utah to see Connor three days ago. While I was attempting to get my rental car to go pick him up from day camp (he is off track from school) I was told my license had expired and they could not rent me a car. I had renewed online on November 1st but the new licnese had not arrived yet and I'd forgotten the one I've been driving with wasn't any good. I didn't get to see Connor and I still feel very bad about the missed opportunity.

Kim and Logan are in California celebrating Christmas three weeks early with family-wish I could be there but I had to stay behind to work. My days off don't coincide with theirs. Anyway, wishing and hoping Kim and Logan have a great time while I am working and trying to make extra money to pay off the plane tickets I've had to purchase for my kids to fly down here for Christmas....can't wait to see them!!!!!!

Hoping to take Connor to Portugal in February when he is off track again. I have all kinds of things planned. Lots of castles and palaces as well as a church made of bones and skulls and a marionette museum. I pray it all works out where I can get him a passport in time so he can enjoy the international travel his sisters have enjoyed for a decade.

Stoked about an opportunity

Big, big news! I've emailed the editor of a Salt Lake City newspaper about possibly reviewing "Whispers from the Past" and they are interested and a copy is in the mail. As if that isn't enough, the same editor wants to know if I'm interested in writing articles on travel for the online version of the paper. I'm stoked to say the least. I've spent some time looking for travel blogs that I could write and now this opportunity, or at least possibility, would be even better. :) I have a long way to go but I'm as qualified as anyone to write travel articles just because of the extensive amount of trips I've taken out of the country with my kids and wife Kim. I think the standing tally is 24 countries in the last eleven years. Keeping my fingers crossed that they like my book and hopefully a long standing relationship will be the result.

Big weekend in football. I have to say that I'm so for the University of Utah beating their rival BYU even though my beautiful daughter Amber is a Cougar. Good luck to the Utes and best wishes for making a good bowl game. Probably the Las Vegas Bowl since TCU will be going to a BCS game.

Still writing "The Eye of Magog" and thinking its pretty good. I know some things I'll need to change even before finishing the first copy. Thanks to the people who have read my stories and offered feedback to me, its proven very helpful.

Chris

A visit from Connor

Last week I put Connor on a plane home after a wonderful two week visit from Utah. He was off track from school and spent most of the time with us in Texas. I just want him to know how wonderful it was to be with him. Here are some pictures taken at the Romanian Food Festival in Colleyville and the mini railway train by Fort Worth Zoo.  I miss him already !!!!

The Eye of Magog

The Eye of Magog is becoming pretty cool! I love to write when thoughts and ideas pop into my head because I'm so into my own story. I'm just about 34,000 words and based on the first 3 novels this would put me at just about the half way mark. Of course I don't know how many words this will end up with and I try not to plan that way. Animals are starting to play an important role in the story which I never would have expected when I first started out writing. I really like it!

For those who have read Whispers by now, please give me your feedback either using the email on my website or just making comments here on the blog. Bookmark the website if you like, I enjoy people that keep coming back.    www.chrisahale.com

Thanks for checking in.....

Chris

experiment

experment here

Listen to rebel heart

Cool !!!!!

It only took one day for "Whisper from the Past" to be available for kindle when the first copy was downloaded to a good friend I knew in the mission field in Georgia. I guess I did it correctly then. Yay me!!  Thanks to the people who have been interested in reading my work....
Where did my work come from?   I have to say when I first wrote Whispers it was for my daughters. My international trips with them were my inspiration and the places I write about are places I've seen myself. Very few locations in my book are fiction but there are some. These countries, The Netherlands, Peru, New Zealand, and now Ireland I absolutely fell in love with and I hope I've depicted them in a way that shows that.
What will I write about next?   Hmmmmm.  I will have dedicated a book to my parents, Megan, Amber, and Heather so Connor is next. He is going with us to Portugal in February so I guess we'll see.

Whispers from the Past on Kindle

Whispers from the Past is now available on Amazon.com's Kindle !!!!!! This is the first time I've published anything electronically so I hope it works.....For those of you who are advanced electronic readers I hope you find that its an enjoyable book!!!!

On a separate note...I'm just about half way through with "The Eye of Magog".....The book has taken an unexpected turn as I write.....I'm exicted about it though and look forward to finishing the first writing so I can put more attention to the previous 3 books and do what needs to be done there.