On March 5th (Wednesday) Hurricane Crimes will
be having its Word Wide Release. To celebrate, I am doing a special post to
recall my experience with Hurricane Frances, the storm that inspired Hurricane
Sabrina. I didn’t write this as eloquently as I wrote my story, and it’s not as
thrilling, but I hope you enjoy this insight into the real-life events that
sparked Hurricane Crimes. I also included a timeline just for fun.
2004:
As Hurricane Frances inched her way to the Florida coast,
a vast net of gray clouds overtook the sky. Standing on my driveway, with my
hair and skirt blowing in the wind and my head tipped back, I could see the
circular motion of the clouds. The wind picked up and I watched a neighbor’s
forgotten trashcan go rolling down the road.
For the rest of the day, I watched Dinotopia and played
dominoes while I waited for the hurricane to hit. The TV would go in and out,
and I remember cheering when it fought back to life. That night, the winds
became so strong that the transformer in my backyard started sparking. Glowing
embers rained down into the darkness below. I eyed the transformer like a
ticking time bomb. Not long later it popped with a blast of yellowish-blue light
and a sheet of darkness draped over the house.
While I was sleeping, rain dropped in heavy ribbons onto
the roof. Wind slammed into the boards covering the windows next to my bed,
prying me out of my sleep several times, and I was always relieved to see the walls
were still standing around me.
When I woke up, Hurricane Frances was gone. In the light
of day, which was obscured by layers of clouds, I found my neighbor’s fence flat
on the ground, the roof over my porch torn, and my garage door crumpled.
I spent a week with my family without power. The
temperature was high, but Hurricane Frances left behind a nice breeze. To
battle the heat, I dragged my mattress to the middle of the living room and
slept with all the doors and windows open to create cross-ventilation.
Days after the storm passed, my sisters and I ventured
into the city where we heard FEMA was handing out supplies. Driving down
deserted roads was surreal. We didn’t pass a single car on our way into the
city. All the lights were down and uniformed soldiers stood at busy intersections
to navigate the few cars toward the relief stations. We received MRE’s for my
whole family to last a few days.
After several days, the wait for our power to be restored
became unbearable. Then finally Florida Power and Light workers came to our
aid. The sun had retreated down the sky by the time the lights winked on again.
And that was the end of Hurricane Frances’ reign.
2008:
Tropical Storm Fay, while she wasn’t as powerful, also made
a big impact. She released so much rain from her cloudy hands that the road and
field across from my trailer flooded, making it look like I lived on a tiny
island. I watched the water rise with growing anticipation. When the water
lapped at the top step, I was afraid it would spill over and leak across my
living room floor.
While I nervously kept an eye on the water, a cat fish
swam up to greet me. He hung out around my front steps for several minutes
before swimming away. I remember hoping he’d find a lake or pond before the
earth swallowed all the rain, but it continued to rain for days. I was strained
in my trailer for about a week, writing and suffering from cabin fever.
Tropical Storm Fay also had another impact on me. Shortly
after she decided to leave, I came up with the last name for my pen name: Fey.
Although I chose it for its magical meaning, I still believe the storm gave my
muse a nudge in the right direction.
2011: I started writing Hurricane Crimes on Christmas
Day. (No, writers never take a break.)
 |
| The first page of Hurricane Crimes from my notebook. Errors and all. |
2013: I got a publishing contract from The Wild Rose
Press.
Image by Chrys Fey.
Thank you for reading my hurricane post, sorry there were
no crimes in it, but there are plenty of crimes in (shameless plug) Hurricane
Crimes. ;)
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