For the last several months, Lisa and I have been revisiting 2003. That year was wild, crazy and wonderful for us as we became published authors for the first time with the release of our first four titles: Acting on Impulse, Lover’s Talisman, “Magic in the Works” in the Mesmerized anthology (now out of print) and Angel in Moonlight.

2007 has felt like the rebirth of Ashleigh Raine. After no releases for a couple years, we came back to publishing with the release of Driven to Distraction, the sequel to our very first release, Acting on Impulse, and new contracts for the Talisman Bay series. Lisa and I have spent a lot of time talking about how we feel like we’re reliving 2003, but with an additional four years of knowledge of the publishing industry, the entertainment industry, writing and life under our belts. We’ve spent the last couple months revising and rewriting Lover’s Talisman, and we’re currently working on doing the same to Forsaken Talisman, both titles which are being re-released from Samhain Publishing in 2008.

But there are certain experiences from 2003 we would have rather not relived. Southern California on fire.

Four years ago almost to the day–and now–Southern California burned. Lisa wrote up her 2003 fire experience–including her evacuation and her adoration of firemen–on the Havoc(2) Tale from Hollywood.

The fire still rages outside, but so far Lisa hasn’t had to evacuate this time, and we’re praying she doesn’t have to. But both of us–living 90 miles apart–are experiencing the smoke, the fire and the flames, the difficult-to-breathe air, from different fires. Below are some photos we took of what we see when we look outside.

Here’s the view from Lisa’s house yesterday afternoon right after a new fire started:

 Here’s a photo her husband took of the sun on Sunday afternoon:

 Another view of the valley from Lisa’s house, this photo taken Sunday:

Lisa’s backyard, Sunday afternoon:

Now on to Jen’s house. Here’s the view from my front yard from a few hours ago. That’s smoke, not clouds:

 Here’s the view down the street:

And this is my horizon from a couple hours ago:

 

I need to go out and take more photos because it’s gotten much, much worse. The sky is gray, red and orange, with no hint of the blue sky you could see in the photos from a couple hours ago. I tried to take photos last night of the hillside burning. It’s the strangest sight to stare out the window and watch the fire move down the mountain, a red glow in the blackness.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those fighting the fires and those who no longer have homes to go back to. Sadly enough, it’s nowhere near over. So we sit back and watch and wait and hope that it ends soon.

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