Check out my two new reads!
I’m clearing my life of unwanted clutter and offering up new and inventive ideas this year.
I’ve put out two new books in the last six months. Sometimes months of hard work on individual projects end up coming to fruition at approximately the same time and that is how it worked for me.
In the fall I released a fantasy YA book, Return to Glome’s Valley, which takes place in the valleys of southeast Oklahoma near the Heavener Runestone. It is the sequel to Glome’s Valley and takes place 14 years later when Ethan has become a man. He returns to the place he played as a child and finds escapades and secrets that only an adult could handle. Some mysteries should remain simply that. There are new adventures for some of the old characters and you might meet a dragon. It is available on Amazon at
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My mother died of cancer 18 years ago, one day before seeing her great grandson born. She tried desperately tried to hang on to see that little bundle of joy, but nature had other ideas. The next day I became a grandmother. I couldn’t attend the birth because I needed to help my dad, who had Alzheimer’s and heart disease, plan a funeral. That morning I put my husband’s pickup in a ditch when I hit the only patch of ice in the whole town. They say things come in threes.
I had a great time at the Meet the Artists! event at A New Chapter Bookstore and Café yesterday. Music by Chloe-Beth, coffee and tea from the bookstore and even cookies! From 4-6 the public shuffled in and out and were entertained by the music of Chloe-Beth (much of it original). Families came and brought the kids. The relaxed atmosphere brought music and literature together in a cozy environment. Friends bought books and drank coffee and tea and enjoyed the early spring afternoon. 
Enid has a lot to do for a small town and plenty to get involved in; some for pleasure others for need. The Garfield County Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) hold an event each year on the Courthouse square. The wooden children in the picture represent the 246 cases of abused or neglected children in Garfield County reported to authorities each year. Many are never reported. The numbers incline or decline depending up on the year, but Enid is not a metropolitan city and Garfield County is not an especially large county. I think that number is much too high, but CASA is working hard to reduce it. My husband and I adopt one of these wooden children each year and dress it, take it to the Courthouse lawn with all the others and hope that the money collected will be enough to help with this worthwhile project. 
I recently met an incredible talent right here in my own hometown. Chloe Beth Campbell (stage name Chloe-Beth) has a voice like an angel. She writes and performs her own music and released her first CD on her 18th birthday titled Remnant. She has gigs all over town – and some out of town – and I am sure she will go far in her singing career.
I’m still cleaning white woodwork. The more I clean, the more dirt I find. Cobwebs love the lattice work. Eventually, cleaning will have to be painting, though I try to deny it. The white, while clean and crisp, only remains that way for so long.
Sitting out here on the prairie writing stories, I’ve made some friends in California. Thursday March 15, 2018 at 7:00 PST (9:00 CST) I will be a guest on The Writers Block radio show.
Yesterday was the second annual Enid Author Fest at the downtown library. Over 40 authors were in attendance and there were panel discussions with the authors, readings by the children’s authors and even Doc, the reading dog, made an appearance. (Doc can’t read, but he loves someone to read to him. He has his own story time at the library on Tuesdays at 4:00, come read to him!) 
Saturday, March 3, 2018 over forty of the state’s finest authors will converge at the Enid Public Library. The festival, in conjunction with the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County, Friends of the Library, and Enid Writers Club, will host the second annual Enid Author Fest! Festivities begin at 1:00 at the downtown library 120 West Maine and end at 5:00. The public is invited to meet and discuss all things literary with the local authors. Their books will be available for purchase at tables set up in the downstairs area.
Going through receipts and trying to get organized this week, I found there was no more room in the file cabinet. Something had to go. Over the 45-year marriage we’ve taken a lot of pictures and many of those in the first 35 years were film. That meant we have a lot of negatives. And we’ve kept them all. I pulled out several envelopes stuffed in the file cabinet with pictures and negatives – many of which were not needed. Some from a time I took a photography class and others of the kids when they were young. The stuff from the photography class had to go. One more thing cleared out this week, I mean, who saves their negatives in a file cabinet? I felt I needed to report in about my progress. But, I had a better story to tell you than just my clearing out negatives this week. There were also positive in my life and those of others.
My son found a small dog in the middle of a busy four-lane street that runs through town limping and barely avoiding traffic. He scooped him up, called animal control, and took him to his vet. The leg was out of joint and it had no tags, so it needed medical attention and at least a rabies shot. After the visit to the vet, Animal Control called to say the owner was looking for the dog and gave my son a name and address. An elderly couple was searching for their equally elderly dog, half blind, half deaf and lost. My son had just the dog and took him to the couple. They were elated to be reunited with their long-time companion. With two dogs at home and several cats, my son really didn’t need another, but he was willing to take the dog in if the owner could not be found. 
It was a good ending to a story.
