Welcome to my new website, I can’t believe we’re really here.

It’s been a long journey.

One of my books is almost ready for Amazon so Scott is making me an author’s website! Please bear with us as Scott gets this website finished. This is just the beginning, and we’re learning as we go, but we are excited and wanted to give you a peek of what we’re doing.

The book isn’t my memoir. That book is still brewing. And this novel may not interest you guys, but I’d love to have your prayers and thoughts and most of all, I want you to dream with me today. But before I get into my dream, let’s start with yours. . .

What do you dream about?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I’m not kidding. When I grow up I want to be a bestselling writer. I know I’m shooting for the moon, but remember, I said dream with me. We are dreaming together. Scott and I always say, “Dream with me,” before one of us shares a big dream we know sounds a little crazy. Maybe this big dream will happen, maybe it won’t, but it won’t be because we didn’t pursue it.

Will you pursue your dream?

Most of us are probably done growing up physically, but all of us are still growing up spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Maybe you dream of knowing God, really knowing him. Perhaps you dream of getting over your fear, your anger, your complacency in life.

Your dream could be that you find true love. Or you make peace with your ex. Or peace with your parents. Or your child who’s become more than you can handle.

Maybe you dream of making it as a singer or an artist or a writer like me.

We all have dreams.

I don’t know what you dream about, but I want to dream with you. If you leave me a comment or shoot me an email, I promise to pray for your dream. Please pray for mine.

I thought my memoir would be the first book we’d publish on Amazon, but it’s still with an editor in New York. Scott wanted to practice on Amazon with one of my other books so we chose Until the Day Breaks, a historical romance I wrote years ago. Actually I wrote the first draft of this book when I was 24 years old between my first and second baby.

I started the story on a typewriter when we lived in Germany. Actually a word processor, but you only saw one sentence on a little screen and the contraption was mostly just a typewriter that made a lot of noise. It drove Scott crazy at night when he was trying to sleep and I was pounding away down the hall in our small apartment on the fourth floor of a cement building constructed after World War II to house military families.

I submitted this book to a few publishing houses when we returned to the states in the early 90’s. I got some good rejections and an editor read the whole thing and said I had a lot of potential as a writer. I’ve been told this for years, that I have a lot of potential, but every time I hear this, I think of my friend Birdwell. That was really his last name. Birdwell.

Birdwell played college football and his freshman year the coach told him he had a lot of potential. “But you know what potential means, don’t you?” said the coach with a wad of chew in his mouth. “Potential means you ain’t worth a poop now.” Of course the coach didn’t use the word “poop.” You can imagine what he said.

I’m sorry but every time someone tells me I have potential, all I hear is, “You ain’t worth a poop now.”

So back to dreaming. This historical romance didn’t sell in 1993, so I wrote another novel. That one landed me a New York literary agent and ultimately a movie option. I went to Hollywood and met with the producer who bought the option on my book. She asked me to consider moving to Hollywood and writing for her company. I was flattered, but didn’t want any part of Hollywood. I wanted to be a bestselling novelist and live in the country with a houseful of kids. The movie was never made and the book never sold, though my agent told me both Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore’s film companies considered buying the rights to my novel to turn it into a movie.

Many of you probably know this story already so I’ll try not to bore you. After that third book didn’t sell, I wrote two more lackluster novels while working with that New York agent. Those books will never see the light of day. Of course I kept hearing I had potential, which didn’t make me feel good. It made me feel like I wasn’t there yet as a writer. For various reasons, I’ve spent 27 years not being there yet.

But I’ve finally come to the conclusion it’s about the journey. Really. Pursuing a dream is ultimately a journey. Hopefully a journey we enjoy. I’ve had so much fun getting Until the Day Breaks ready for Amazon.

Actually, my real goal was to have the book done for my daughter, Cami’s birthday at the end of April. Cami loves this story and has pestered me for years to see it published. I actually have several novels I’d like to eventually put on Amazon. And of course I hope to write more books. Many more, God willing.

I hope you’re enjoying your dream journey. Please don’t ever stop dreaming. Dreaming is a part of living. You know my friend Birdwell may not have been a great football player his freshman year of college, but he learned and he grew as a player, and his later years on the college field were so fun to watch. He became a really good football player and helped his team win games. Birdwell went from having potential to actually winning games.

Most of you probably don’t read historical romances. I’m not expecting you to read my book, but I’d love for you to dream with me. It’s scary to get in the game. I might fall flat on my face publishing on Amazon. I’ve decided that’s okay. I’d rather try and fail, than let fear of failure hold me back. I hope you decide this too. I hope you live brave and stay honest and true and pursue your dreams even if you fail.

Failing is a part of life.

So is succeeding.

Over Easter break, Scott and I took a little trip to wrap up research for my book. Until the Day Breaks is set in California in 1846 during the Bear Flag Revolution. I love history, especially California history. I know, I’m a little weird this way. Until the Day Breaks is actually the first book in the California Rising series. Two more novels are in the works, spanning the first decade of California’s turbulent entry into the United States.

Below is a picture of Fort Ross on the northern California coast. One of my characters in this novel was born at Fort Ross.

We rounded out our trip in Sonoma at the mission, and then General Vallejo’s hacienda.

The fountain in this picture is meaningful to me.

Until the Day Breaks opens with a young woman wading in a fountain behind her father’s hacienda. This must have been a fantasy of mine when I was a girl visiting this historical state park.

The day Scott and I stopped here during Easter break, I considered kicking off my cowboy boots and climbing in this fountain just for the heck of it, but the German tourists walking the grounds with me probably would have thought I was a nut job so I kept my boots on.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my excitement with you and also unveil my new author website. I’ve waited nearly 30 years to see a book in print. These last few weeks of preparation before putting my book on Amazon feels like waiting for the birth of something special. I don’t know what my baby will look like, and I’m not sure if it will bring me heartache or joy, but I’m ready for this baby to come.

Almost ready.

Maybe sort of ready.

How about you? Are you ready to go after your dream?

Really, I’m serious about dreaming with you.

If you share your dream with me, I will pray for you. God made the heavens and the earth. How hard is it for Him to make your dreams come true?

Really, it’s not hard at all. But the true test is surrender. Will you surrender your dream to God knowing he may very well say “No” to your dream. He might say, “This dream isn’t good for you. I don’t want you to be a . . . I want you to be. . .”

I know God wants me to be a good mom. A good wife. A good farmer. I know these things for certain. I don’t know about a bestselling writer. God might not let me have my dream. But Jesus is with me on this journey. I know it. I feel it. And I pray you feel Him too as you dream.

God may ultimately say yes to your dream, or no to your dream, but God cares about your journey. Because really when it’s all said and done, I’ve come to believe the journey is more important than the dream.

I never take selfies. Seriously, I think I’ve taken three in my whole life. Maybe two. Scott takes selfies of us as a couple and I always feel like the biggest idiot in the world standing there doing a selfie in front of people.

But I decided to take a selfie with the fountain instead of climbing in it– it was a warm day over spring break– that fountain looked so inviting, but with the Germans watching me, I decided to go for the selfie instead. The Germans probably thought that crazy American woman thinks that old fountain is famous. Hahaha.

This fountain is famous to me. When I first saw this fountain years ago, Until the Day Breaks was born. I pictured a blonde girl in this fountain. I didn’t know who she was. Didn’t know why she was in the fountain, but the story was planted in my mind like a seed and began to grow.

And by the way, writing a romance novel is kind of like taking a selfie. It leaves me feeling embarrassed and awkward and a little naked. Truthfully, I’d rather not have you read my romance novel. I’d rather strangers read it, but I wanted to share my dream with you.

Hoping you’ll share your dreams with me, dear friends.