Still Writing

It’s been way too long since I last blogged. Can I blame it on Covid? No… really I can’t. All my life whenever I started journaling I did not keep it up. I’m a procrastinator, and starting things has always been a challenge. I will admit I’m not a good blogger, but I still want to catch you up on what’s happening. I’ll try to be more consistent in the future.

Personally life keeps moving along. Our family is growing. We are busy with our kids, and our grandkids. We just laugh when anyone asks us if we are enjoying retirement. I’m glad we’re healthy and continue to do what we’ve done all along. We might move a little slower but we are healthy and able.

I’m still writing. I’ve finished another book and I’m working on a third. Let me tell you about A Safe Place to Run to. One thing I’ve learned about editing is that every time I “edit” the book… at least thirty times, maybe closer to fifty, I change the story a bit. I correct more spelling and grammar mistakes, and I like it better than the time before. I’m sending it off to a publisher for input but I don’t think I’ll be able to publish it for a while. This book is a little less personal than Enough Grace to Make Things Right. With EGTMTR I knew my story. When my editor wanted to change things I often refused. I was very possessive when it came to my characters… I knew them well and I was not about to change their speech and way of doing things. I had the story in my head and heart for a long time.

I’m not as personally attached to my new book. A Safe Place to Run to grew out of my thoughts on foster care and adoption. When I was a young adult my dream was that I would someday have a lot of kids. I think I was specific, a dozen kids to be exact. I wanted to adopt, and back then it wasn’t common for single people to adopt. I was close to thirty when I met Clarence and when we got married he thought my dream was just fine. We adopted Toni when she was three months old, and Ron a year later at two months. Ruthie was born just after Ron turned three. We still wanted to adopt and at that point, because we had an approved CAS Home Study on file, the agency asked us if we would consider being foster parents. We began to foster. Our Shannon was our first foster child. We adopted her and her brother Dave three years later.

In those early days as we fostered we had our children, plus four foster children, in our home all the time. That was nine kids, and that kept us busy. Around then I decided my goal of having twelve kids might be a little unrealistic. We stopped at five (of “our own”) but continued fostering. Eventually we adopted Phil, and he adopted us. We count all our kids as amazing blessings, as we do all of the foster children we had the privilege of welcoming into our family.

When I write, I draw from experiences and my goal is to have my characters be believable. In A Safe Place to Run to my main character, Kate, is a single mom with ten adopted kids. Having ten kids sets the stage for fun and excitement, as well as joy and some sorrow. You’ll find some romance in the book but that’s not the main theme. With a large amount of characters, each with pasts of their own and stories to be told, the book presents opportunity for characters young and old to find a safe place to run to.

I am looking for a few people to review the book perhaps to write a future endorsement. If you are interested in such a task please email me at janetweilerauthor@gmail.com.