In recognition of Sickle Cell Awareness Month

I've decided to share my family's experience with Sickle Cell Disease. To learn more, visit the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.


The Baby God Gave Me

“That boy’s going to be a pistol!”

Mom’s response to my unborn son’s refusal to remain head down summed up our shared personality prediction. Estimated at over nine pounds and still breech at 38 weeks, his fetal stubbornness was just a preview of the challenging personality he'd bring to the world. Born a few weeks later at a very healthy 9 lbs. 15 oz after day-long labor and (finally!) a C-section, Pistol Punkin a/k/a Ethan* and I eventually made it back home where life settled into its new normal.

We enjoyed our daytime aloneness, growing and bonding in our own special way. On one of these “all- is-now-right-with-the-world” afternoons, my boyfriend dropped by for lunch --nothing elaborate, just a Big Mac and fries with Young & the Restless humming in the background. I glanced out the window behind us to see that the mailman had just arrived. But instead of the sound of mail sliding through the chute, he rang the bell.

“It’s another present,” I thought.

What the mailman brought that day was a certified letter from the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America--Michigan Chapter. I assumed the communication was a formality, informing me that my newborn carried the Sickle Cell trait like me and his older brother. Cold words from the form letter informed us that our baby’s newborn testing had revealed “a sickle cell condition,” there was a doctor at Children’s Hospital of Michigan prepared to care for our now ten-pound baby, and counselors were on hand if we should “need additional information.”

The mailman brought our whole world down around us.

The story continues on my website

Never doubt, never fear

Have you met Maxwell “Mack” McKnight? Named for two favorite singers – Maxwell and Brian McKnight – he’s the leading man in Where Souls Collide. As you read the book, you’ll notice the music strewn throughout. Whether en route to work, chiming from cell phones or accompanying love scenes, tunes abound.

Not so much during the writing phase, but definitely as I revised, I surrounded myself with what I deemed the soundtrack of this story. There were songs that seemed to define each character and set the mood I wanted to maintain throughout the novel. For Maxwell and Mack, that song is “For You to Love” by Luther VanDross.

I heard the song on my way to work a few days ago. Every time I hear Luther croon, “I came here. . .through a hurricane. . .never doubt, never fear. . .honey, it’s you I love,” I think of Maxwell’s relentless pursuit of Navena and Mack’s undying love for Vee. That a man would journey across the country – even through time and space – to have the woman his soul yearns for melts my heart. And hopefully yours, too.

After all, who wouldn’t want to be loved like that?

Eyes of the Stove...uh…Eyes on the Prize

That whole watched pot never boiling thing is not quite true. I’ve been waiting for the UPS truck all week, knowing the advance copies of Where Souls Collide were off the press and en route to my house. Then, in a magical moment on Friday, I glimpsed a brown short-clad man strolling down my front walk, boarding that wonderful truck and wheeling away.

Not much bigger than a boot box (the nice over-the-knee kind), inside the unassuming brown parcel were 25 copies of my dream come true in print.

Giggles and heart palpitations followed. Then, I nearly started to hyperventilate at the thought of all those other books landing in hands across the country. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t completely overwhelming in the most incredible way. I wanted to wallow, but let’s be real, who’s got time?

There are press releases to send and follow up, flyers to design and distribute, a newsletter to create, interviews to conduct, blogs to write, web sites to update, statistics to track and the next book to complete. I figure I’ll stop to breathe at Christmas.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since I finished Where Souls Collide, it’s that writing is a business framed by lines: number of lines, deadlines, bottom lines. Yes, lots of personal satisfaction and fulfillment help round them out, but rubbing elbows with those in these trenches has given me a whole new appreciation for being a writer.

I’ve learned to compartmentalize the demands on my limited time. Racking up pages comes first, but promotion cannot be ignored. I’m committed to learning something new about my craft every day and making sure I tend to the business obligations of being published. All this and a family, too!

But, that’s one of the great parts: The people closest to me understand that I don’t function so well without writing in my life. So, we make it work. This quest to be published (well now multi-published) is one of a few pots fired up by my life. With a little prayer and a lot of love, I’m watching every one of them start to boil, ready for whatever comes next.