Published! Darkest Before the Dawn!

I must extend my congratulations to Cheryl Watts! She is now able to share her dream of becoming an author that has actually become a reality with the world! You can view and purchase her book on Lulu.com if you look up C.L. Watts, or Darkest Before the Dawn on the search line on Lulu's home page.

I wish that I had some kind of announcement on my winner of my First Annual Rogue Bud Writing Competition... Kimi Tozaki has not had the opportunity or time to follow up on her proposed book since winning my contest. We must all keep her and her loved ones in prayer as her homeland is Japan, which we all know has been in a horrible natural diaster, and now the Missippi Delta, which is also Kimi's homeland here in the United States, has been flooded and is in its own state of emergency. Our hearts go out to you Kimi.

I have extended an open invitation to Kimi to publish a book for her if she is ever able to get the materials to me to do so. I will honor my word.

Honoring my word is how my friend Cheryl has now become a published author. She had a story that I felt deserved to be told, and to be delivered out of the box that was in her shed! Her personal memoirs are both moving, and interesting. The first time that I heard her heart-wrenching story of losing her own mother to suicide was the moment that I committed to producing a book for her. Little did I realize what that would cost me in time and effort! I'm very happy for Cheryl, but I am also not in any kind of hurry to commit to anyone's 'dream' quite so freely again.

I strongly believe in honoring my word and keeping promises. I'm getting a little wiser here these days though about even making those open-ended promises!!! I have come to the conclusion that I am not a 'happy' editor. I want to work with projects that are ready to roll, so to say. I am first of all a writer, and if I am working on massive edits on someone else's work then I can't concentrate (or have the time) to work on my own writing, and that tends to make me extremely grumpy!(Just ask Diana Edwards, whom I published, Majesty on Lulu.com for, or Cheryl Watts). That doesn't make me proud, but it is what it is. I have been writing for about thirty years now and I know what works and what doesn't. If you want to work with me then please have enough confidence in my ability of not only a publisher, but as a writer. You must trust that when I say that I am looking for a 'clean' manuscript, then that is exactly what I mean! I will never produce a book from scratch again for someone other than for myself! Expect me to be very selective when it comes to this next writing opportunity in the form of my Second Annual Rogue Bud Writing Competition.

And now that time is coming around once again for my Writing Competition. I will be posting the contest guidelines and the deadlines in Early July, as I did last year. I have to sadly share that it will be in memory of Joel Muska this year, as we lost Joel to illness. He has been missed terribly around the office. I can't even say. He was a wonderful man.

Watch for my next post, which I'm hoping will be this weekend!!! I am currently putting together my 'Dog Days of Summer' book of Inspirational Quotas about life around my job working with Oxygen and related, and sometimes unrelated, DME... Like wheelchairs, (which are always a joy to lug around) and an occassional potty chair! The book will be small, but too funny. I'm putting it together as a going away present for my supervisor who is going to California to manage a bigger (but I bet not better) branch! It's just short quips and lots and lots of clip art. I love searching for clip art! It's so mindless and relaxing for me! So, until that post, I hope that the sun is shining down upon you! It's bright and sunny where I'm at and it makes me feel light and cheery, and glad to be alive!