Exciting News!

Hello, everyone! Apologies for not writing in a while. This has been one of the busiest summers of my life so far, so let me give you the rundown before I share my BIG, EXCITING NEWS!

I’ve taken on a summer job for a local manufacturing company as a data entry assistant. This takes up about forty hours of my week. For another ten to fifteen hours a week, I’ve been working at the local ice cream shop where I worked last summer. When I originally started applying for summer jobs, I never anticipated working with half of my family. However, I’m now working in the same office as my dad, and my little brother also works at the ice cream shop! While I’m getting used to seeing my dad every day at work, my brother and I don’t share any shifts at the shop (which is probably a good thing).

In other news, in my limited amount of spare time I’ve been catching up with friends and working on some little projects of my own. One of my projects for this summer was to restore my parents’ quilt for their 25^th wedding anniversary, which they celebrated on June 25^th this year. (Congrats, Mom and Dad!) The quilt was made by my great-grandmother Hazel on my dad’s side for their wedding. Actually, it was made some years before their wedding while they were still dating in high school and left to the care of my grandmother, should Hazel pass away before Mom and Dad got married. Nearly thirty years after its construction, the quilt was literally falling apart at the seams. Most of the knots through each of the SIX HUNDRED squares had ripped through the backing, and a few of the squares were falling out. I ripped out the knots, then seam-ripped the backing off the top. You should have seen the monstrous dust bunny that crawled out of the layers of that quilt. *shudders* (It hadn’t been washed . . . ever.) After sending the top through a few gentle cycles of the dryer (and emptying the lint collector a few times) and then using up nine lint roller sheets on the top of the quilt, I gave up. The next steps were to piece together a back from brand new, bright red wool and replace the few ripped squares on the front. One of the squares was replaced with a piece of light blue and white felt, which I machine-embroidered with red thread.

“K + D, 25 yrs”

Retying six hundred knots took me a few days, but soon the quilt was back together, and the edging was stitched up with Hazel’s signature zig-zag stitch. The quilt is now heavier than ever (I put batting in the middle, though it was probably unnecessary), and hopefully it will last another twenty-five years.

Now, perhaps you’re all griping, “Why is she going on and on about a quilt? Get to the good stuff! What’s the big news?”

Well, as those of you know who have been following me on facebook, one of my other big projects for this summer was to edit and prepare The Battle for publishing. I had the book online as a separate blog until about a year and a half ago, but I took it down when I published Beast, thinking that perhaps I’d be able to do the same with my second novel someday. That dream has now become a reality! After three pairs of eyes had read over my original story and raised some very pressing questions regarding its plot, I knew that I had some serious re-writing to do. My original goal to publish the book over Christmas break this past year fell off the radar, but an interest in my work expressed by our church librarian gave me new motivation to complete the work I had started. I re-wrote some large chunks of the work, creating a more cohesive, believable story line and removing many clichés I had used during my wondrous high school years (when my writing stemmed more from emotion than serious thought). After two more volunteers read through the new story, offering yet more critiques and suggestions, I made some final changes. Two friends from college assisted in the crafting of the cover art, and I assembled the final product. I ordered a copy for myself from lulu.com, and upon receiving it in the afternoon this past Tuesday, I could not be more pleased with the final result! I’ve made a few formatting changes, and I’m pleased to announce that The Battle is now ready for purchase from lulu.com! Thank you to everyone who assisted during this long process. It could not have been possible without you!

For those of you interested in purchasing a copy directly from me, I will be placing an order next week. You can contact me through my author facebook account. Simply leave me a comment on my page by July 25^th as to how many books you would like to purchase. They will be available on lulu.com for $12.19, plus shipping, and from myself for $13.00.

More updates will come soon about future book signings! In the meantime, check out The Battle on lulu.com, and visit my facebookpage!