6/28… today was the final class with writer/instructor Peter Telep. How incredible that he co-wrote some books with Tom Clancy. His personal writing and publishing experiences were valuable lessons and encouraging since I’m basically an unknown writer.  But I can’t give up because plots and themes continue running through my mind. And I can’t ignore them! Nor do I want to. The joy and challenge of writing are hard to explain but without this craft, I feel like a fish out of water. I love to write and hope that soon, people will love to read what I write.

6/27… Interruptions! Goodness! Suddenly, contacting realtors and contractors in Harpers Ferry, WV, is consuming days and blogs!! I finally have these people in time slots for meetings the first week of July so I’m back on track for at least a few days! I have a surprisingly new direction for some YA novels, targeted for middle and high school kids. More on this later, but I’ve got to get busy on this before we take off for WV this weekend. I’m excited but seriously challenged by the themes of these new books…. With God, all things are possible!

So today, I finally sent out all those books to the dozen people who requested them. It took well over an hour – much longer than I’d thought. Can’t wait for the comments to start rolling in. I’m determined to be tough-skinned because not everyone likes everything about all you’ve written. You can learn from all comments – if you’re willing to listen… and not take comments personally. Won’t I be surprised if the comments are easily digestible?

One week later and we’re back home, leaving a cleaner cabin in Harper’s Ferry, WVA. It’s down to business now. I’ve promises to keep and a dozen ebooks to gift people back at school. It’s either the suspense/mystery about Alexa Silven or the YA comedy about high school drama. Different tastes abound. This is good, though, because they REALLY want to read my books. Hope they’ll enjoy them!

It’s not the 50+ yr.-old cabin that’s the most alluring reason for coming to Harper’s Ferry, WVA. It’s that my husband, John, both sons (Dan & Mark), and Dan’s wife (Emille) are here for the few precious days we have to clean all these windows and back deck, fix the broken down front fence posts, and clean out the weeds in the front yard. Sounds just about as unexciting as it is, I’m sure. But it has been exciting to see all this get done in just two days. Man, this crew can work like lightning! Everyone worked hard from sunup to sundown two days straight. Emille worked right alongside the guys and it was so impressive to watch them, like a well-oiled machine. Me? I cleaned the munge from the deck railings and took care of the cooking and cleaning. We weren’t working alone because John’s brother Steve, wife »