Although I haven't accomplished much in the way of writing novels, the good news is that I survived the first week of home schooling, and I painted a bookshelf, four more windows, and the front door. While I'm painting, I like to listen to old school country music (Allen Jackson radio on Pandora via my iPhone) to help pass the time. My favorite country music is the kind that tell stories that have a deeper message within them. Like Randy Travis' "Three Wooden Crosses."

​Many of my friends and fans know that my brother-in-law has a rare form of blood cancer and received a stem cell transplant on August 23rd. As I listened to this song today while I was painting another window, I thought about how fleeting our lives are and how every day is a gift. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. The outlook for my brother-in-law isn't great. He has been fighting high fevers since receiving the stem cells (lovingly donated by his brave fourteen year old son). As I listened to the lyrics, I thought about the poignant truth woven into the song:

​"There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows.
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It's what you leave behind you when you go."

As I was painting, I meditated on this concept: It's what you leave behind you when you go... It's easy to get caught up in "the American Dream" of chasing success and accumulating stuff, but neither of these things have any lasting value. The things that matter most are invisible to the naked eye, are of spiritual and emotional significance: sharing the message of God's redemption through Jesus Christ; raising our children to flourish and to love God and others; showing kindness and compassion to those in need, physically or emotionally.

​When your time on this earth comes to an end, and your family pens your eulogy or plans the epitaph for your headstone, what will they say? Will they be able to speak the truth or will they have to varnish it over to make it sound better?

​Each of us are given a limited amount of time on the planet. Use it wisely. Think about what it is that you will leave behind.
​
​And if you want to know why there are only three wooden crosses, instead of four, on the right side of the highway, listen to this song. It's well worth your time.

I have plans for a follow-up, stand-alone historical fiction novel, and I began writing it... But I had to postpone it to start painting the house... So I thought I could publish a children's book that was already written... And now my daughter is begging me to write a romance novel for teens, and how can I say no to that? So I've started that one too... We're also planning to get into upscaling and selling furniture and antiques... And I'll be homeschooling a ninth grader this year... Who also has ADHD and is in the middle of writing three different stories of her own. (And who insisted that the mustache cupcakes were relevant to this post.)

​So I can tell you what the next novel will be about, but I'm not even going to attempt projecting a release date. And who knows? I might finish the historical romance novel first, as it's easier writing since it's about a previously researched time period (The Oregon Trail) and written from the first person perspective.

​They say that life is all about seasons, but this one feels like a whirlwind! So here's the teaser for the next Historical Fiction Novel:

​From Fields of Promise

Belonging neither to the South where its sympathies lay, nor to the North which held it captive, Maryland’s Eastern Shore must forge a new path through the havoc left by the Civil War.

Mariah Wright, a Confederate widow, has to find a way to keep her husband’s farm from falling into poverty and ruin. Most of the slaves have headed north to freedom and there aren’t enough hands to work the fields. Left with the care of her aging mother-in-law and young sister-in-law, Mariah strives to carry the burdens the war has left her.

Isaac Roberts, a veteran of the Confederate Army, returned from Appomattox to discover that the life he left behind has moved on without him. Disillusioned from the loss of a cause to which he had given everything, and damaged from the savage realities of war, Isaac fears he has nothing left to live for.
​
With nowhere else to turn, Isaac accepts the challenge of helping a fallen comrade’s widow save all she has left of her husband’s legacy. As the fractured nation struggles to come together after four bitter years of fighting, Mariah and Isaac must find their place in a world which has changed forever.