Where have you been?

Sorry it has been so long since I created a new post! Like everyone else, this is an incredibly amazing and busy time of the year for me. Most of the leaves are off the trees here in southern Ohio, and I still don't have any bulbs in the ground for next spring. Shame on me!

But I'm keeping busy. I just finished the first pass proofs for my third novel coming out in January. It's entitled Redemption's Song. I got the title from a line in an old Alfred Brumley hymn. Remember him? He's most famous for his hymn, I'll Fly Away.

He also wrote a beautiful hymn: Jesus, Hold my Hand, in 1933. My publisher notified me several months ago that I would have to change the original title of the book, Beyond Redemption, because of a book by Gary Smalley and Karen Kingsbury. I was bummed. Titles are harder for me than the book, and I thought I had a good one with Beyond Redemption.

But what could I do? I don't have the punch behind my name like Gary Smalley or Karen Kingsbury...not yet anyway. I couldn't think of a thing. Then as I was falling asleep that night, a line from a song kept going thru my head. And sing redemption's song one day. That's all I could remember. The next morning I asked my friends if they recognized it, but no one could remember it either.

So I googled that line. And there was the whole song right in front of me. And guess what? It fit the premise of the book perfectly. This is the second verse of the song. I absolutely love it.

Let me travel in the light divine, that I may see the blessed way.
Keep me that I may be holy thine, and sing redemption song one day.
I will be a soldier brave and true, and ever firmly take a stand.
For there's no other friend on whom I can depend;
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand.

I believe God put the line of that song in my head. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon. Check it out. It is the second in the series of Jenna's Creek Novels. I hope those who read it, will fall in love with the residents of Jenna's Creek, Ohio, as I have. I finished Book 3 of the series last month so it will be on its way to the publisher soon.

Now, I'm at an exciting juncture, where I get to decide on which new novel idea to pursue. I currently have 5 or 6 rattling around in my head. I'll have to be quiet and listen for which one is making the most noise.