My writing has often competed with other summer activities, and while that's still true, this year it's getting another unprecedented priority boost.
In years past, we had the newspaper boom, in which I became a reporter, then editor for a daily in southern California.
Then came the Christian romance boost, in which Multnomah Publishers contracted me for three books, two of which became Evangelical Christian Publishers Association bestsellers.
Then we had the baby and homeschooling boom, during which I continued to freelance for state and regional publications and projects like articles for Minnesota Monthly, a children's historical short story for a state parks geocaching hunt and poetry and music for our county's P is for Pioneer book and CD.
Two summers ago our family band joined forces with another to tour and produce The Heavens Declaring, featuring a small selection from my one hundred plus original songs.
Most recently, my daughters and I wrote, directed, acted, sang, choreographed and arranged music for two plays performed in our church, one of which also aired on our local secular radio station.
And now I'm revisiting and creating a backlog of unpublished writings, including a long-planned sequel to my extended-length rodeo novel which opened Multnomah's extended-length Premier line, Chase the Dream.
Once again, I have no idea where this will lead. But with my oldest child going off to study biology as an honors student with a pre-med emphasis and my youngest successfully navigating kindergarten (not to mention my middle child beginning to become an accomplished composer/arranger/singer) I'm beginning to have more time on my hands, at least in the morning before everyone else wakes.
So here goes. . . .
