My first novel, The Gate House, will be re-published by Whiskey Creek Press. Release date is set for May 2012.
Although I have another manuscript almost finished, and several other pieces in various stages of creation, I am thrilled to have a second chance with The Gate House.
The book was originally published by Virtual Tales, a group of wonderful people who unfortunately had to move on to other things and the company went out of business. At the time of the original release, in the summer of 2009, I was overwhelmed by difficulties in my personal life. My mom passed away that month, and I was working at an extremely stressful teaching job in an urban school. I didn’t have the time or the energy to promote The Gate House the way I should.
Nevertheless, the novel was a finalist for an EPIC award in the mystery/suspense category, so I knew my writing had promise.
Now I have quit the teaching job and am substituting at a nearby high school, which gives me much more time to write. My brothers and I have finished the task of cleaning out our mom’s house and selling it. This task was made even more challenging because she lived in a small town in Illinois, I live in Pennsylvania, and my brothers live in California and Alaska!
So I am grateful for this second chance. Virtual Tales may have done me a favor by going out of business! I have learned so much about book publishing and promotion in the past couple of years. I have the confidence now to say, “I am a writer.”
