Hurricanes Happen

Many readers love the little bits of SEAL lore that are dropped all the way through SEALed With A Kiss, and frequently ask about my research.

Much credit for the authentic feel of SEALed With A Kiss goes to John Roat, and another former SEAL he introduced me to, Martin Strong. These two men gave me hours and hours of their time—without asking for anything in return.

I checked and rechecked facts. I had nightmares that some missed factoid would trip me up, and ruin the reading experience for a reader. At one point I fretted to John that I just didn’t know enough. He replied, “Stop worrying. You already know more about SEALs than most people in the Navy do.”

Because I had so much new information to keep track of in regard to SEALs, I decided to make the heroine and the setting something I could draw on my own experience for. Hence the teacher/therapist background for the heroine, Pickett, and a coastal North Carolina setting.

I also thought, “Why not have a hurricane?” I’ve been through a number of them, and I can easily make the experience authentic.

And do you know what some readers have questioned? The hurricane part. Specifically, hurricane parties. Apparently, once again, truth proved stranger than fiction.

If I ever revise SEALed With A Kiss, here’s what I will explain. Media coverage aside, the actual experience of a Category One hurricane isn’t particularly dramatic or exciting. There’s a lot of action beforehand. People scurry around boarding up, gathering supplies. But once the storm strikes, there’s no leaving the protection of the shelter. Wherever you are, whoever you’re with, you are marooned there, until it’s passed.

Sooner or later the power will go off. No reading, no listening to music, no internet. Nothing to do but watch the wind and rain. For hours. If it’s dark, there’s nothing to do at all. It’s the part of the hurricane story you won’t see on TV. Can you imagine a news anchor reporting, “Thirty-five thousand residents and tourists died last night of boredom caused by Hurricane Elvira?”

And impressive as the wind is, the real danger, as the residents of New Orleans can attest, is flooding.

Natives take all this into account. The solution is to gather on high ground before the hurricane comes ashore storm and ride it out together. Some go to the houses of relatives or friends. And, like on New Year’s Eve, many people go to hotels, to drink and carouse through the storm, and then sleep it off.

But how can they party, you ask. Aren’t they worried?

It’s like this: on the North Carolina coast hurricanes happen. Keeping oneself safe is relatively easy. Any shelter on high ground will do. As for what will happen to their property, once they’re taken whatever precautions they can, people tend to have a che sera, sera attitude.

I think I’m going to adopt the same attitude vis-à-vis research. I'll prepare all I can, and then, che sera, sera.