Track time…

Why are there so many cars in Red Ochre Falls?

Because my life is filled with cars. 1) I married a car guy who plays and works with cars. 2) My husband and I went to High Performance Driving School (before children, and it was so much fun we still talk about it). 3) After kids we bought a minivan, which I drove long enough I started fantasizing about other cars—any car other than mine with crumpled tissues, sticky cup holders, and pulverized cereal constantly accumulating on the interior.

My life, and these car fantasies, helped me write about the vehicles Mattie and Garrett would have and want to drive in Red Ochre Falls. Of course, my husband was more than happy to act as research liaison, looking at car specs and answering questions along the way. It was a lot of fun to dream of Maseratis and Hellcats while toting my babies around in an aging box, but once the first book was written, I started thinking of ways to add some new twists to this aspect of the series.

Enter, track season. The days, nights, and weekends my husband gets his fix watching all kinds of cars racing at all kinds of tracks, under all kinds of conditions. He also takes his old beauty (the car, not me) to the track. It’s a family affair and I bring the kids to see him when they aren’t in school. I sometimes drive, having taken our ‘ten-foot’ track car around GingerMan Raceway after an all-nighter on a hotel couch soothing a teething toddler. Thankfully, we survived, and turned in some good lap times.

Since the 2016 season is now in progress, inspiration is everywhere. I’m getting some great ideas watching everything from 1970s era classics to modern hot rods and Formula 1 cars running hot laps. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll have my own sports car. If our little driver-in-training has anything to say about it, it’ll probably be fast, like a Hellcat.