Where were you?

Hello all,

During the last couple weeks, a criminal of international notoriety was killed. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? What about the event where he went from unknown Middle Eastern zealot to international Most Wanted... September 11, 2001?

I recall 9/11 with great clarity. When my husband called to have me watch the television, I thought it was a joke. To my knowledge, there hadn't been a war fought on American soil since the last Indian battle most notably Custer's Last Stand in South Dakota in the middle 1800's. Unfortunately, what I witnessed was no joke.

Such events color my world and as a writer I feel the obligation to include the effects of such historical actions in my work. Pre 9/11 my characters would have zipped through an airport to the docking area and waited. Now I have to figure a two to three hour delay while the characters get to the airport early, have their persons and luggage checked then go to the gate to check-in.

All of this is leading to blatant self promotion. Thirty years ago, May 7, 1981, one young man entered a bar in Salem, Oregon, and unloaded two Browning 9mm clips into a group of people out having a good time at the Oregon Museum Tavern. Three people died immediately, one more on the way to the hospital; nineteen were wounded. The young man never gave a reason for his murderous rampage and a city and state were left reeling in shock.

I've taken the incident and fictionalized a story that fills in the blanks as to why the incident occurred. Almost everyone living in town at the time were touched by this action and many still have scars from it. Shattered Tomorrows by C.L. Kraemer gives an ending to the story, albeit fictional.

I'm blessed to be able to put my anger, rage and passion on the page in the form of fiction and work out my issues. How do you handle life changing incidents?