A New Year. A New Slate. A New Book

I made a promise to focus on the things I loved in 2014. No pressure. No fixed goals. I found a gift in that time. Focus on the things you love and your reward will be greater than you imagined.

I spent much of my time on surviving. Little by little, I found time outside of that to pursue what my heart called me to do. It's hard to plan when life is volatile.

I made small commitments. One of them was to my poetry. I would send it out to the world again. Even though some were dusty, I kept my promise. I polished old gems of verse and gave them new life. I penned anew. I inched forward each day building word upon word.

I'll admit it. There was a moment in time where I feared that I'd lost my ability to thread words into a magical pattern. In my struggle, I found a line of poetry written years earlier. It spoke to my loss and the necessity of hope - specifically. What fit nowhere years earlier, filled the hole in my armor. It spurred me forward because out there somewhere is someone else who needs that line more than I do.

A new collection of poems formed. Off these went mere days before I celebrated thankfulness. And as an early Christmas present, I learned of its acceptance. I was able to share the news with my family and a few friends over the holidays (an incentive to talk to me in person, *wink wink*).

And in this new year, a gift of a publishing contract for my poetry chapbook arrived. Finishing Line Press offered to publish, "the invisible heroine," and I accepted.

My commitment to what I love still stands. I'm thrilled that in 2015, I can share a piece of my heart with all of you.

"the invisible heroine" releases on June 19, 2015. You can pre-order from Finishing Line Press starting Feb. 23.