Author Updates

​My intention to write an ongoing chapter book series was not long in the making.  I say this because typically I incubate a story for years before beginning to write it.  In fact, for two years, I had been imagining a Young Adult story when new inspiration seared my soul—to write and illustrate a contemporary fairy tale for young readers. I instantly shelved my YA imaginings to pursue this new goal and quickly put words to “paper.”  Since then, in January 2022, I’ve written and published six books in the seven-book series The Bird Club (the final book to be released in November 2025).

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From where did such inspiration spring? From the words of Elia Wise in her book Letter to Earth. On writers of magical stories for children, she says,

 

“… the children, and a scattered population of inspired people who hold the magic beans, are preserving the wonders and possibilities of the magical world.”

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For context, Wise says that while adults “have closed the door to magic in their own lives,” they yet “continue to read and tell magical stories to their children” (157-158). In this Wise finds cause for optimism to one day bring into our “mundane” and “practical” culture the magic, myth, and imagination that feeds the heart and soul.

 

After reading this message, I felt compelled to answer the call! I wanted to become one of the scattered population “who hold the magic beans.”  Nor was I mistaken in this pursuit, for the characters in The Bird Club came eagerly to me, each sharing his or her part of the larger magical story.

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My writing of The Bird Club is nearly done and soon I will return to my YA story. I hope the characters of this novel are not too annoyed with the long wait.  I’ve been visiting when possible, offering various paths they might follow. But we’ll decide together when I return for good.