Comments on: Extreme Research—Just how far will YOU go?

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:15:49 +0000

Steven…

I have seen many sites before and most of them do not look this good. I cannot wait to let my friends know about this site. Thanks for the excellent content….

By: Pamela Bolton-Holifield

Pamela Bolton-Holifield — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Oh and one more thing. After hearing about keoweegirl’s experience I no longer think it odd I don’t have a bank account. I think I may be on to something! Sheesh!

By: Pamela Bolton-Holifield

Pamela Bolton-Holifield — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:46:21 +0000

I concur, keoweegirl, many thanks to KJ and Donna for a really terrific blog. I am jumping up and down over winning!!

Keoweegirl, you are going to LOVE Donna’s book! It is beyond hot!

The really hilarious thing? It never even occurred to me that I could possibly land in the ocean. It was not courage that got me up there over the water but sheer stupidity! And I am definitely going to take Kim up on her lifeguard service. I didn’t know you could keep lifeguards in captivity. Good to know!!

By: keoweegirl

keoweegirl — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:45:35 +0000

Many thanks to KJ and Donna for the fascinating blog and wonderful prizes!

Pam, congrats on winning the B&N giftcard. Your extreme research was very prize worthy. I cannot imagine hang gliding in the first place but then to do it over water when you can’t swim? Yikes!

By: Fedora

Fedora — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:45:43 +0000

Congrats, Pam and Keoweegirl! Woohoo! And thanks again, Donna and KJ for providing such an exciting topic!!

By: Lily

Lily — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:29:38 +0000

I am not a writer… but a med student and witness from time to time some very disturbing situations.
I will always remember that day. I was working in the summer in the ICU doing nosocomial infections’ prevention when I needed to take a sample from a patient. So I go to his little cubicle, talk with the patient in question who tells me he is going to be discharged from the ICU and already has his room upstairs. We share some mundane chit-chat… I help him with his water, leave the cubicle and head to do some paperwork. After five minutes, I hear the distinc panic sound on the central cardiac monitor and see it is the patient I had visited just a moment ago! The code is announced and the team of intensivists work on him… I am holding my breath, I can’t move… I am in front of all the action, mesmerized by the beauty of it and by the intensity of it all. After five minutes of cardiac massage, they have a pulse. I smile knowing that this man has been lucky… for only a few minutes… he has another cardiac arrest and that will prove to be fatal. I just could not move for a few moments… I had been laughing with him,and I realized I had been the last one to talk to him, and I had helped him with his water! I had tears in my eyes, and needed to leave the ICU to get some fresh air… however I had not been able to leave without seeing one last time the man now still, his eyes now closed.

I would love to see these intense situations in books… where death is portrayed as it really happens, in a hospital bed around a medical team where the action is mesmerizing, frightening and also heart-stopping… and the ending is not always a happy one. I would love to see this kind of situation especially in suspense novels – not in historical romance of course!! – because such situations would bring depth to a story and emphasize the thin line between life and death.

That was long… thanks for this post… it is my first time here!!

By: Caren Crane

Caren Crane — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:41:31 +0000

Oh, my. I lead such a dull life! The only way to make anything I have ever done even moderately interesting is to put it in a book. The only “extreme” things I have done include high adventure sports. But I haven’t included any of those in a book! I am using our trip to Switzerland last summer in my current book, though. Might as well use the little bit of adventure I have!

Kirsten, I’m so proud of you for picking up The Book!

Joan, you need to stop teasing us with your trip to Eire. We are, as Anna C says, Emerald Isle green with envy!

By: Donna MacMeans

Donna MacMeans — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:28:20 +0000

KL – Well that sounds…different . I thought it might be something like KHATT (I think that’s how it’s spelled) that’s been causing some trouble over here. You have exotic tastes, my dear.

Kate – I took a tour of Alcatraz. We were visiting San Francisco and someone stole my bag right there on fisherman’s wharf while we were waiting to board the boat to the rock. THe whole time we were there I kept thinking I know someone who should be behind these bars. Apparently though, this tends to happen there frequently. The crooks steal the cash and anything they can quickly sell and throw the rest in the trash cans (you know the ones with all those crab shells). We drove down to Monterey the next day so I missed the call from the Golden Gate refuse company that they’d found my purse. They mailed it back to me. Inside my wallet were all my credit cards (which I had already cancelled), my driver’s license and my romance novel. They took the cash and my camera.

By: Joanie T

Joanie T — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:19:41 +0000

A quick last note for the night:

Now Donna….you KNOW I did not mean that you resembled a pacyderm in seven veils!!!!

I wish I had the flexibility to even try it! Heck, I wish I had the dexterity to do ballroom dancing. Oh, wait! Dancing with the Stars will be starting soon!!!!

We have a great old restored theatre here in Louisville called The Louisville Palace. Wonderful acoustics. And we have the Frazier Historical Museum. Main focus is on weaponry but they found that having “arms” in the name kept a lot of people away. Unfortunately for ME they don’t go back to ancient times.

And a friend one time got me “The Idiot’s Guide to the Kama Sutra”. Chapter 14 was only understandable if you tilted to the left

Oh, and meet me in Shannon in April! Just look for Anna C……she’ll be by the baggage claim.

By: Anna Sugden

Anna Sugden — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:02:10 +0000

Keeowegirl – I’m a NJ Devils fan *grin*. So Pro hockey – though, will watch a college game if one is on.

LOL KJ – now how did I know you’d be a Leafs fan?! Had such fun when we were in Toronto to see your boys take on mine. Next trip is out to Denver to see my boys take on the Avalanche (and not just because Joe Sakic is the inspiration for my current wip’s hero!).