Word counts:
Beverly (kiernen) - 11,556 words
Jenn - 5137 words
Mary C (Mcarey) - 6723 words
Mary N (Dianafan) - 12,967 words


Beverly’s Author Notes:

First of all, Happy 10^th Jixaversary! I am so thankful for Jix and all of the wonderful people I’ve met here. A big thanks to Dana for organizing this and letting me be a part of it again. Thanks also to Bonnie H. & Mary C. for editing for us!

Working with Dianafan (Mary N.), Jenn, and Mcarey (Mary  C – aka “Allure” *grin*) has been a terrific experience. I was excited when I learned who my teammates would be, but also felt slightly anxious since I know each of them are fantastic writers and I worried that I would let them down.

I was thrilled that they all shared my hope that we could come up with something just a bit unexpected. We had a terrific time plotting the story.  I was also a bit intimidated when we decided on some sort of mystery. I’m horrible at trying to plot, let alone write, a mystery. I had no need to worry though; these ladies are all champion plotters!

Jenn and Mcarey created outlines, summaries, and character sketches that helped keep me on track. Mary N arranged for our editors and coordinated our efforts as well as giving us gentle nudges to get our parts done so that the editors would have enough time. Mary N also used her amazing talents and created beautiful graphics for our story. I bow to her artistic abilities! The feedback each of them provided was wonderful and gave me hope that I didn’t ruin the story. You guys are the best!

Any errors with the code used in the story are mine. We thought it was cool. Since it would have been known by Nazi soldiers in WWII (even though it was generally only used as a backup cipher), we thought Klaus would have known it and could have taught Mitzi how to use it as well.

Trains are a common means of travel in Europe, and there are a number of trains that travel between Paris and Switzerland, including high-speed trains. There aren’t any that go directly between Paris and La Fouly, but I wanted to keep it simple, so I used artistic license and created a new route!

I also have to give my husband a huge thank you. He has been very encouraging and supportive of my writing. After our initial plotting session, we knew where we wanted to go with our story, but some of the details still needed to be worked out. He offered to try to help. I had to explain Mart & Diana to him briefly (otherwise how could he possibly help!? J) and what we were trying to do with our story. He very enthusiastically started plotting. I knew he was a creative guy, but he really got into it! He had a ton of very good ideas. We used some of them, and some of them provided an excellent jumping off point for us. He also dealt with the kids all by himself when I got down to crunch-time so I could get my parts finished. He is my hero!

Beverly’s sources:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/decoding/faceoff.html - Playfair cipher instructions. The Playfair cipher was a real code used by the Nazis during WWII, and it was the code we chose to use for our story. (Link now goes to redirect loop, so hyperlink removed March 2012; another source explaining the Playfair cipher may be found here--MLN)

http://www.nettonet.org/Nettonet/101%20Painting/Studies/Chiroscuro.htm Rembrandt and the technique of Chiaroscuro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel history of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and its role in WWII.

http://www.raileurope.com/index.html - various train routes & schedules for European cities

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en – official website of the museum. Lots of wonderful information and an interactive floor plan of the museum.

Jenn’s Author Notes:

I would be remiss if I did not, first and foremost, acknowledge my fellow writers - MaryN, Beverly and Mcarey.  Thank you for pushing for that spot outside the box and for not being afraid to do something which I hope the readers found unexpected.  The eight hours of plotting in the chat room paid off.  Thank you to MaryN for serving as team lead, graphic artist and editor hunter.  You took on a lot and it is so very very appreciated.  Mcarey, it was so much fun to plot with you and see where your imagination would take us.  As the first one to get her sections done, you kept us on pace and your encouragement was invaluable.  Beverly, you were a wiz with the code (kudos on that alone) and thank you for being the force that kept our sanity in check. 

Secondly, I have to give a huge thank you to MaryC and BonnieH for being our outside editors on this project.  When we decided to go big, we went really really big (blush).  Not only did you manage to turn this baby around in amazing time, but it was apparent by your edits, suggestions and comments that you really took care in doing your best so that we could shine.  Thank you!

Third, thank you to Dana for all her organizing of the entire group story project - my hat off to the amazing and talented woman behind the curtain. 

And finally, a thank you to all of YOU, the members.  Jix wouldn’t be Jix without you. 

Jenn's sources:

Avalanches: http://nsidc.org/snow/avalanche/

Louvre: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp

Mary(Mcarey)’s Author Notes

It was my pleasure, and privilege, to join MaryN, Jenn, and Kiernen (Beverly) in the 10 Year Group Writing JiXaversary story.  Thank you with heartfelt appreciation to: MaryN, our Trixie of the group, whose curiosity of needing know is equal to her awesome writing talent.  She also displays honorable Jim characteristics at being just so darn good at everything.  Kiernen (Beverly), a Honey of a person, who maintained a calm manner, along with unending tact and diplomacy and exhibited terrific sportsmanship on wherever we wanted to take this story.  Jenn who used her Brian tendencies to keep us focused on the story.  Thank you for the line “Diana’s powerful search engine.” 

Special thanks to Kiernen’s DH, who gave us a terrific idea for the story.

THANK YOU, MaryC and Bonnie, who had to daunting task of editing this story with four different writers.  Its impressive how quickly you managed to return this story to us – you two are ‘da bombs! 

Details of Paris based on my memories of the City.

API and Reuters are actual newswire services.

G.I. Joe is a trademark of Hasbro, and Barbie is a trademark of Mattel.  No money was made from either in the writing of this story.

Thank you Jixemitri owners, administrators, moderators, authors, and members for such a remarkable web page.  You all exhibit the enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment in keeping the BWG spirit alive.   

My favorite sources for information were from - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and Wiki Answers.  Seriously, those were the only sources I utilized.  

The poem DANKSAGUNG (Giving Thanks) is by Stefan George and may be found at www.alb-neckar-schwarzwald.de/s_george_poems.html

Mary N’s (Dianafan) Author Notes

First, I’d like to thank CathyP, founder of Jixemitri!  I’m sure you never dreamed that Cathy’s Jim and Trixie Page would become the globe-spanning community we know and love today as Jixemitri.  

Huge thanks to the current owners and admin team, who put in countless hours building and interacting with the community (as well as continuing to write perfectly perfect Trixie Belden fanfiction!).  You are a fantastic group and I thank you all!

Many thanks to Dana, who spearheaded the JiXanny group story project.  You are amazing!

Heartfelt thanks and great appreciation to BonnieH and MaryC, who took on the task of editing this long story.  They did an amazing job and really helped us tell our story in the most effective way posible.  Thank you, ladies!

Thank you to the readers!  Your encouragement and comments are so very much appreciated!

It was a joy working with this fine and enthusiastic team.  I’ve shared with them that as soon as I volunteered to be part of the Mart-Di team, I got cold feet and almost backed out.  You see, “my” Mart and Diana grew up and had an idyllic (i.e. boring!) family life with their (eventually) seven children.  No exciting story material there!  Thanks to Jenn, Beverly, and Mary “Allure”, we did come up with a story that I like very much.  I hope you do, too!

Mary N's sources:

I'm a quotation freak - I admit it! We found many of the quotations used at the chapter headings here: World of Quotes.

I've nver been to Paris, and while the places I've named are real, they may not bear much resemblance to the descriptions. I claim artistic license!

Driving in Paris can be an... adventure, according to La Petite Anglaise.

I chose the 12th arrondissement for the Emmerichs' apartment building because according to my research, there is moderately-priced but nice housing there. Parc de Bercy is located within the 12th arrondissement, and its history was fascinating to me. Here's a Wikipedia article about it. Another article discusses the history of the park and walking tours of Parc de Bercy

There really is a carriage ride in Paris, but the only one I could find drives around the Eiffel Tower area. I tried to make sure that even the traffic directions I used were accurate for the Quai de Bercy, but don't know if traffic there is too busy to accommodate horse-drawn carriages.

I found a photo view of the Arc de Triomphe, as seen from 3 Avenue Friedland (The Deutsche Bank). Sadly, the image has been moved or is no longer available, so the link has been removed.

There really is a pirate ship moored in the Seine at the Quai de Bercy. It reminded me of the pirate ship in Ghostly Galleon. Here's a picture of the Boudeuse. You can also see a bit of the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, Paris’ only purely pedestrian bridge.

I searched a lot of images to try to get an idea of traffic along the Quai de Bercy. Here's a scooter like Boris drives. Here's a pic showing the Quai de Bercy, with a good view of the cobblestone street.

The La Fouly ski area appears to be somewhat smaller and less busy than Chamonix and some other famous ski areas in Switzerland near the French border. You can learn more about it by clicking on the link. Here's one picture of a train crossing a mountain pass in Switzerland.

Mart made a splint for Diana's ankle using this technique from www.backcountrybeacon.com.

Karl Schmidt refers to the Battle of Montcornet, the only occasion that French forces were able to mount significant resistance to - Hitler’s Western Offensive – the battles that conquered Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Here's more about the Western Offensive in a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum article on the German invasion of Western Europe, May 1940.

Thanks for reading!