Book Five Finally Coming Out!

Dear Friends,

It’s been a long while since I wrote to you or updated this site. I owe you an apology for that. It’s been a very tough year of growing and learning for me. More about some of the things that have happened–both good and not so very good– in subsequent blogs. First, though, I want to explain the delay in the release of the next book in the series, book 5, Survivors Stories.

I finished Survivors Stories in September 2015 and had to rush to upload it. It was listed as a “pre-order” book, and if I failed to upload it by the deadline, I would lose my ability to post a book on Amazon for a full year. The book wasn’t ready and I knew it; it had all kinds of mistakes–mistakes in grammar, logic, timeline, character. I was exhausted, burnt out and ashamed to have released something of such poor quality. I removed it from sale as soon as I was allowed to. The experience left me feeling angry at Amazon, but also at myself. I felt I never should have put myself in a position where I let down the readers so terribly. I guess that’s why I’ve waited a full year to re-release that title. I felt it was what I deserved.

That anger sent me into a bit of a depression, I guess. I questioned my writing ability, my judgment and whether readers would want to see anymore from me. I had a #milestonebirthday… and that made “bad” even worse. I wondered if I had been wasting my time– and yours.

But then, last March, I had a pretty serious health challenge. It was scary (and not completely resolved, as I will share later). But I realized that I’ve only got one life. God gave me this #storytelling ability… and using it is all I ever wanted to do. I’m going to do it until I can’t do it anymore, in all forms: #TVwriting, #books– hell, I’ll give tell you tales on #youtube if anyone wants to watch! I’m finally clear: storytelling is what I’m here for. It’s what I love. It’s the gift I’m meant to give the world.

So, the penance is over. I’m revising Survivor Stories now and it should be posted on Amazon by the end of September.

Thank you so much to all of you who wrote to ask about what happened to the kids after they were separated in Survivors City. Your support reminded me that I owe you the conclusion of the story– and I promise we will finish their long trek to safety together.