"I said that I could do it...I knew it...I knew it."

"I said that I could do it and indeed I did!"

-My Fair Lady

Fair ladies and noble gents...

...great people from far and near...

The day has come when I have completely finished Fly Away Home!

I realize, of course, that this may not be the most exciting news you've ever heard, but for me it's a definite milestone. Not only have I effectively edited, applied critique, and rewritten the whole book quite systematically, but it's a story that has promise and potential. I have a sneaking suspicion that if my dreams of publishing are to come true, Fly Away Home might be the means.

^All she needs is Nickleby. :)

 It's a dear story full of humor, wit, romance, and nobility with a nice wide slosh of "danger." In fact, the villain of the story, Jules Cameron, perfectly describes his part in the novel in one of his finest moments:

“How about a cocktail of murder, intrigue, romance, and lies?"

Ah yes. And if that doesn't intrigue you, you must be in need of cardiac-surgery. (If that's even a term, which I somewhat doubt.)

I have a really exciting opportunity for a famous-in-the-Christian-circles man to read my book and give me his opinion. If it all works out, this could be amazing: getting professional input from this man would mean a lot to me. It'll be downright scary, but it will be great. In the meantime I will begin to send round the query letters and pray this book finds a home soon.

Mothers are not suppose to have favorite children. I'm not certain if that rule applies to authors having favorite books, but who really cares. Because I have written 5 novels now, I know that there are some that just stick with you. Fly Away Home is that way for me. There was not a moment I actually got tired of it. In fact, the rewriting process only made me understand several characters all the better so that I actually like them more at this end of it. Some of the these characters are Maralie Barrymore whose role was so changed by the final edition, and Jerry Atwood who is still a darling, and still one of my favorite side characters despite all the changes around him. Nickleby, too, is a paragon of marvelous cat-dom. When this book is published, your feline friends will enjoy it quite as much as you, because one of their kind plays a large-ish part in the story.

I have high hopes for this book, and I love it.

I know you'll love it.

I know that the readers I have given the book to have loved it.

I suppose all I want to say is that all the woes of planning and executing a story, all the trials of editing, all the pain of rewriting, all the annoyance of taking other people's opinions and applying them to your book....all of it is so entirely worth it when you can click out of Microsoft Word, having polished it till it shines like Jerry Atwood's desk bell, and think:

"L'Chaim!"