Monday, April 29, 2024
What a beautiful, sunny day after a rainy weekend. Hope your day, wherever you are, will be a bright one. It’s been several days since my last post and during that time, you may have thought of questions to ask me.
Such as…how did you decide on the titles of your books?
Naming my first book, Heart of Texas, was an easy decision. The story takes place in Oak Hill near Austin. Austin is located in Central Texas and as it houses the Capitol, is the heart of government in Texas. The Franklin Baileys, a large family of ten, is a close-knit, God-fearing group whose hearts are drawn to each other, to their friends, and to God. The limestone house in which the Baileys live is the narrator of the story and is a central character as well.
Seasons Under the Sun took a little longer to decide upon its title. Using a different format to tell this story, I devoted a chapter to each character allowing him or her to tell their own story. Each milestone or rite of passage we encounter during our lifetime could be considered a season or an appointed time of life. That thought triggered the Biblical passage King Solomon wrote about a time for everything, a season under the sun. You may be familiar with that passage found in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3. The first four verses from the New International Version read:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
Another question might be: Have you always wanted to write?
The answer is simply…no….I didn’t think about writing as I was growing up nor take creative writing in school nor even think one day I would become an author. I have always loved to read, but my interest in writing began in 2007 when I applied to the Institute of Children’s Literature to take a self-paced course learning how to write children’s books. I must interject that when I was in the 6th grade, my father insisted my brother, sister, and I practice our penmanship during the summer by writing a page a day. We could copy material from the newspaper or a magazine. We were tasked with filling one page of notebook paper. I became bored copying other resources, so I began to write my own stories. Sometimes my story would be two pages…front and back. So, I suppose my love for storytelling began as a child. One of my last assignments with Children’s Institute was to expand the number of words in a short story and begin a chapter book. I chose an historical piece from the 1880s and through the research and composition process fell in love with historical fiction storytelling.
If you have other questions for me, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Your email and name are required. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose other than communicating with me. Hope to hear from you soon.
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