I am thrilled to announce that I have signed a contract with Harbourlight Books for publication of my novel, Washout Express. I am looking forward to working with the people at Harbourlight and so grateful for the opportunity. Thanks so much to the most awesome agent ever - Terry Burns of Hartline Literary Agency.

Dreams really do come true, because nothing is impossible with God. Praise and thanks! Thanks to my friends and family that have supported me and encouraged me. 

I know it's a process that is just beginning, but you Anne fans out there will appreciate that one day I will get to say, "I'm about to have a short work of fiction published, and I'm afraid it has me completely preoccupied."

Here's a little sneak peak about the book:

Miss Texas has just stolen her man and Bailey Brown—loaded with enough insecurities to fill a suitcase—hits the road. Feeling like the ultimate loser, drives until she sees ‘Washout Express – Exit 477’. She enters an amazing community where she ultimately finds what she was looking for all along.

Anne of Green Gables 'Most Inspiring Woman' Essay Contest

So excited to be listed among the winners of this contest! Anne of Green Gables Essay Contest

The Highest

The Fort Stockton Critique Cafe was born last night.  We had our first meeting with an awesome guest speaker.  Lisa Hannon, who writes for our Pioneer and is the former 1st Vice President of the DFW Writer's group, gave us excellent tips and advice for running our group.  If you are 18 years of age or older and are interested in our critique group, leave me a message here.

We discussed the reasons we wanted to be a part of our group.  Accountability and improvement were some of the motives expressed.  The discussion reminded me of one of the reasons that I write and so I thought I would post a devotional I wrote about  it here:

The Highest


Matthew 5:14a (NIV) You are the light of the world.

The word ‘inspiration’ always makes me take a slow, deep breath. My eyes close and a smile warms my face. The word always reminds me of the reason I became a writer.

I am a great fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series. The third novel, Anne of the Island, finds Anne and her young adult friends facing life’s challenges. Ruby Gillis is a chum who had never given any thought but to her day to day pleasures. Unhappily, Ruby is now dying of consumption. Anne pays her a visit and finds Ruby terrified of death. Ruby’s “soul clung, in blind helplessness, to the only things she knew and loved”. Anne left that meeting a different young woman. I was changed as I read Montgomery’s prose of Anne’s thoughts: “The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth.”

That sentence first inspired me to “the highest” and reinforced my faith. Second, I was consumed with the desire to write in a way that would make people aspire the way I did at that moment. The notion began as a desire and has blossomed over the years into a full blown passion and calling. I will never forget it. Over time I have reread and highlighted many such inspirations in Montgomery’s work as well as many of the Masters and Christian authors.

Keeping that goal in my heart and mind has gotten me over many a writer’s block. I just close my eyes and remember that moment and then ask the Father to help me take my readers to that place of inspiration; the highest.

The Words I Did Not Say

I'm a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables).  I like this poem that was posted somewhere today:

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Ps. 25:11

The Words I Did Not Say
Many a word my tongue has uttered
Has brought me sorrow at eventide,
And I have grieved with a grieving bitter
Over speech of anger and scorn and pride,
But never a word in my heart remembered
As I sit with myself at the close of day,
Has pierced with repentance more unavailing
Than have the words I did not say.

The word of cheer that I might have whispered
To a heart that was breaking with weight of woe,
The word of hope that I might have given
To one whose courage was ebbing low,
The word of warning I should have spoken
In the ear of one who walked astray.
Oh, how they come with a sad rebuking
Those helpful words that I did not say;

So many and sweet: If I had but said them
How glad my heart then would have been;
What a dew of blessing would fall upon it
As the day’s remembrances gather in;
But I said them not and the chance forever
Is gone with the moments of yesterday,
And I sit alone with a spirit burdened
By all the words that I did not say.

The morrow will come with its new beginning,
Glad and grand, through the morning’s gates –
Shall I not then with this thought beside me
Go bravely forth to the work that waits?
Giving a message of cheer and kindness
To all I meet on the world’s highway,
So that I never will grieve at twilight
Over the words that I did not say.

Source: The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery