Echelon Press

I've been working with Karen Syed at Echelon Press to get my short story Hear the Wind Blow ready for publication on March 14th. What a thrill it was to see the cover art for the first time! And a bit unnerving to go over my story for errors, knowing that any errors will be seen by all. Thanks to my wonderful WIPAsylum friends and Elysabeth, I've had an easy time of spotting those mistakes.

Family issues are presently taking center stage and I'm trying to get through the days with eyes open, alert and sensitive to the needs of my family and the inevitable changes that occur with all major life events.

Concurring with the joyous publication at Echelon Press is the end-stage of my mother's breast cancer.

There are moments when I long to dive into the pages of my novel and ignore reality. It would be so much safer for my heart! And then there are moments when I wish I could halt the furious beast we call time, reverse it even, so that I could pay attention this time and perhaps better understand my mother. Given a chance to go back, would I make any corrections? Would I change any words in the story that is my relationship with my mother? Would she?

There are no answers to those questions, so I continue to keep my eyes open and lean not on my own understanding. To experience life - to be wholly present in it - is to feel it, from the joy of winning a short story contest to the pain of my mother's final preparations.