This morning I’m listening to geese who are lagging behind their counterparts winging their way back north for the summer. They call to each other in encouragement and in perfect form they soar ahead. They have a purpose and a goal to reach and in that sense they don’t lag behind. As seasons change, they adapt and move forward.

Such is a writer who is purpose-driven. We stick to our goal even when life in general tries to divide us from it and causes us to lag behind. Our lives may take different turns along the way but a writer keeps his or her goal tucked neatly where it belongs. We allow it to surface again and again and let it take a grip on us like any other addiction. We find ourselves lifted into a world that swirls around us like a current that sucks us in and we love it. Imagination and curiosity overtake everything else and we put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and are surprised when we reread what we have written.

Writing is more than wanting a bestseller from our efforts. It is the ability to express thoughts, enhance reality and make it a fantasy and so to please the reader. It is a gift that we impart to someone who wants to become the sleuth or the problem-solver in the story, who wants to leave their own worries and concerns and sink into a world the writer has created for him or her.

That is the goal of a writer.

Spring has finally arrived to stay, or so I hope. I do like winter but this past one even got to be too much for me. Spring gives new hope through deep green grass, a stupendous array of colors and as I look up into the sky my eyes brush the tops of trees sporting new growth. All of nature is there for the taking and I revel in my renewed energy that seems to be in sync with my surroundings.

I have new ideas for stories to write. All I have to do is reach back into my own experiences and connect them with the many personalities I have encountered along the road and I have my story. Someone once asked me how I come up with ideas to put into narratives. I tell them one can simply look at a plain door and imagine it the core of a tale. What is behind that door? Is there anything behind it or is it just there? If that’s the case, why is it there to begin with? You get the idea. All kinds of things can be conjured up and since I like writing mysteries I feel I could run with it.

My editing of “Disappearance in Plain Country” is almost finished and soon ready for self-publishing it. I was surprised and astounded at the reception my first novel “Heart of the Wheat Shaft – Mystery in Nebraska Wheatland” brought me. We can expect friends and family to compliment us and it makes me feel really, really good. But when perfect strangers respond so favorably that is the icing on the cake. And that’s what happened with “Heart of the Wheat Shaft.” I have been published in magazines for short stories and articles for children and for adults. I have done freelance writing for the past two years and wrote novellas for clients. When I decided to concentrate on writing a book I went for it with gusto. It paid off for me and spurred me on to the next one.

That’s what Spring can do for me. Renewal is the path to a whole new life ahead and I plan to take full advantage.

The small boy crouched in the back seat of the fast moving taxi. He had no idea why his parents weren’t getting to them until he remembered the horse and buggy couldn’t race like the wind like the car he was in. The lady in front leaned back and covered his small body with the quilt and a smile on her face attempted to reassure him.

The first book “Disappearance in Plain Country” will debut in June, 2014. This is the first of a four-book series of the Beatrice Chandler Mystery Series. Each book is set in a different area of Missouri, my home State. Bea Chandler gets caught up in solving cold cases with Detective Alan McIntyre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Once solved, she writes about the cases and is now a renown author. She often visits her small hometown of Devils Creek, Missouri and finds cases closer to home that need solutions, none of which are cold cases but hit close to home for her.

“Disappearance in Plain Country” depicts a small boy, an only child of a young Amish couple who are visiting relatives in Seymour, Missouri for the annual Quilt Auction which draws crowds of Amish as well as the English from across America. Abe Stotzfus and his parents and grandparents have arrived from Ohio with their quilts to be sold. They are given two rooms in a relative’s bed and breakfast on the second floor of Miller Bed and Breakfast and Bakery. Across the hall from them, Beatrice and her best friend Margaret Bartlett have booked their rooms. To everyone’s horror the lively group finds themselves in deep sadness when Abe, age three is snatched from the family’s quilt booth during the auction. Bea has grown close to the Plain People she just met and is determined to find the kidnapper or kidnappers and bring Abe home safely to his parents.

By tracing the kidnappers, a childless couple throughout the Midwest Beatrice realizes they are adept at being elusive. Law enforcement, the FBI and Beatrice manage to stay one step behind them hoping an inevitable slip-up will occur.

You will be drawn into the chase, be disappointed when they escape once again and before the end you will have divided your sympathies for the characters. Throughout the book there are times when you will believe Abe will never be rescued at all. In spite of seemingly insurmountable hurdles, Beatrice Chandler vows to bring him home.

When I was growing up it was the natural thing to have others in front of me, on my heels and generally just there. I had seven sisters and two brothers though not all in the house at one time. My oldest sister married when I was five or so. During the school year some of my sisters were in boarding school and so for the most part, it seemed like I only had two brothers and two sisters but they were always there! My refuge at times was to walk across the road and sit on the other side of the levee that held the Mississippi River back from land, with a bayou and fields and pecan orchards between me and the river. I sat and listened to loons wailing in the background and thought about things a child would think of, all the while hoping no one would come looking for me.

Only later did I realize my brothers and sisters served a real purpose in my life. I learned how to communicate. Sometimes in shouting matches, sometimes in fun during play times, sometimes while doing chores but that was something that was a given: communication. I learned the value of siblings as I grew older. They were always there when needed and even when I didn’t think I needed them, they were there standing loyal and forgiving.

Recently, we all gathered once more in the town where we all grew up (actually, we grew up a half mile or so from the town in the country but after my father’s death my mother moved into town and settled in her home in the middle of five acres of family pecan trees.) We gathered with our own children and their children to say farewell to a loved brother-in-law. We were there to support his wife who is one of my sisters, and her three children, now adults. It was a beautiful Spring day. Everyone changed to casual wear and we all gathered for the famous photo shots so common in our family. The Orchard sported green trees, flowers blooming and lush green grass as the backdrop for smiling faces in the midst of grief.

Siblings were there, supporting, loyal and yes, forgiving. We united as if still children. We are bonded like glue that will hold us all together into eternity and though spread wide geographically, we are only a phone call, a text, an email, or via Skype away. Any one of us will drop everything and will come running if another needs or calls us.

And that is the role siblings play. It’s a natural result of having them in my life and I don’t mind if one of them comes looking for me.

I had a great time yesterday afternoon at The Windsor of Lawrence in Lawrence, KS yesterday. I was given the opportunity by my good friend Robin Clevenger to talk about my book “Heart of the Wheat Shaft” to a group of approximately twenty people. We had a good time discussing the book, our lives and a few there were originally from Nebraska (the setting for my book.) Good to hear their stories, too. I couldn’t resist munching on cookies and sipping a refreshing punch while there.

Take every chance you get to talk about your writing. You will be surprised how many people have the talent and just need a little encouragement to follow their own dreams.

Now to get down to work on editing the first of my four-book Beatrice Chandler Series. I hope to have “Disappearance in Plain Country” out by early summer 2014. All books in the series will have stories set in various areas of Missouri, my home state. All will be in the mystery genre. I’m looking forward to your enjoyment of them!

It’s been quite a while since I posted on my blog but now resuming in earnest. I recently self-published my first novel “Heart of the Wheat Shaft – Mystery in Nebraska Wheatland.” It is a fictional piece in the mystery genre. It tells the story of Elizabeth Blanton, a high -powered Executive Marketer in the Hospitality business who hailed from herts in Nebraska. She is suddenly called home by her estranged grandmother. Elizabeth returns home and finds herself in the middle of a quest to find the true cause of her beloved grandfather’s death. While there she discovers hidden secrets of both grandparents. Before she uncovers the reasons for Alex Blanton’s untimely death, she is surprised to learn how much of a hold the waving wheat fields have on her.

This is a story you will not be able to put down until the last word and still want to read more. It is on amazon.com in kindle and paperback formats.

Happy reading!