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The Month of June 2022 in Review

June 30, 2022
Best Books
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What did I do this month? Well, first, I did do the writing for all the books throughout the month, but I didn’t do many of the other social media that I had planned to do because I was busy with the garden this month. Early in the month, I was planting and later started harvesting a lot of the earlier crops. We weeded and have been watering because we are currently in a drought and excessive wave.

In addition, I processed the garlic for storage, and canned green beans as well as having prepped for and attended the farmer’s market.

Book Sales, Mixed Results

Book sales haven’t yet been what I have been looking for online yet, but in-person book sales at the farmer’s market have been doing well. If I could sell as many books online as I do in person, it would be great. I guess the issue is that I don’t have the online presence that I need to make the sales. I haven’t yet been able to connect with the right readers. I think perhaps what I need to do is to focus each month on the readership of the different genres I am writing rather than trying to do them all at the same time. I think that the best genre to work on right now during the summer would be my historical fiction series, The Locket Saga. In addition, I need to focus more time on the latest of that series Two Rivers. Probably the best idea right now is to connect with other writers in the genre too. I really do think that where I am having the most difficulty is in the aspect of connecting with individuals online. Connecting with other writers and supporting one another would be a great place to put my focus for the next several months or even the next year.

What sales I have made online have been mostly by chance, not by design. One way that I think I received purchases was when I commented on a YouTube page and left a link to my relevant book, and another was from a bookmark that I gave away at Farmer’s market and the person purchased The Locket Saga on Kindle.

There are several other things that I need to do to make my books more accessible too, but that is going to require some work that I have been putting off. Perhaps that will also need to be the focus of my work in the next month as well. I will discuss this more during the next few weeks.

Writing Two Rivers

This month I have done some work on Two Rivers, Book VII of The Locket Saga, Of course, I still have a lot of editing to complete. I currently have written 75520 which is 4480 words less than I planned to get written. However it is still progress.

Looking ahead to July

Now that I have had a successful June, I have a new month to plan for. It already looks to be a very busy month. Farmers Market and blog post writing for both this blog and my other blog The Perpetual Homesteader are given, but here are other priorities I have for July.

My writing and book marketing projects for July will be to (1) Update several books to put them into more distribution. (2) Do a complete second draft of Two Rivers by working on one chapter per day. (3) Developing contacts with other authors. (I plan to share more about how I am developing these contacts throughout the month).

In gardening, my plans are to (1) plant fall beans and late corn. As well as plant cabbage and broccoli indoors. (2) harvest beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, and zucchini. (3) eat fresh, can, or sell beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, and zucchini.

How about you? What are your plans for July? Feel free to share in the comments below.

If you haven’t checked out my Author Page on Amazon and check out the look inside feature on every book of interest.

Returning to Northwestern Pennsylvania

June 29, 2022
Historical Background, The Locket Saga, Uncategorized
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Not the end of The Locket Saga series, just the most recent.

For the entire month of June, I am sharing my books in the first annual Cygnet Brown Book Club Month! All throughout the month, I will be featuring not one, but all the books that I have written to date. I am continuing book club with my most recent published book in the Locket Saga Series: The Anvil

Book Six of the Locket Saga finally takes us full circle in 1800, not back to Boston, but to the wilds of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Robert McCray, the eldest son of Phillip and Elizabeth McCray is a young blacksmith who is missing one of the most important tools of his trade after his employer cheated him. At the same time, the girl of his affection shuns him for another man. He builds a house on his mother’s land and hopes to get his own property only to discover that the land that he desires was purchased by the Campbells.

Robert McCray makes the best of a bad situation and allows the Campbell family to live in the cabin that he built on his mother’s land next to the land that he had wanted and where the Campbell’s land was.

Though he thinks that he has lost everything, over the upcoming months he learns that everything he needs and wants is right in front of him.

Writing The Anvil had been on my mind from the day that I wrote the first line of Soldiers Don’t Cry. I had wanted to bring the family back to northwestern Pennsylvania because that was where the story began between Elizabeth and Phillip. It was also where I grew up and where most of my ancestors live. The Anvil does that. It brings them back to the land where, well, if you haven’t read any of the series, I won’t give a spoiler here. You’ll have to read the book.

I hope you take this opportunity to read the free sample of The Anvil on Amazon and the rest of the Locket Saga. Remember also to follow Cygnet Brown on my Amazon Author Page so you don’t miss the next book in the series: Two Rivers and other subsequent books when they come out.  

When you love it, you can purchase a kindle copy or get it (at no extra charge) on KindleUnlimited

If you prefer paperback, you can purchase your copy on Lulu.com

When God Turned His Head

Soldiers Don’t Cry, The Locket Saga Continues

A Coward’s Solace

Sailing Under the Black Flag

In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

The Anvil

Living Today, The Power of Now

June 24, 2022
Cultural Influence, Living Today
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Living Today, The Power of Now Get Your Copy Today!

So many of us feel guilt and shame about our past or we are worried about the future. My book Living Today, The Power of Now reminds us that we don’t live in the past, nor do we live in the future. All we really have is now. Think about it. Now IS…. We’ll never have the past again except as a memory. We’ll never have the future, except as a dream. We can only live now.

How can we let go of the past and not try to live in the future? Living Today, The Power of Now explores how to make this a possibility.

As I am thinking about this book I am reminded of the movie “Click” where the protagonist of the story gets a remote that takes him from one major event to the next and never allows himself to enjoy the journey that takes him from each event. The next thing he knows is that he is no longer in control of what happens because he has programmed the remote to skip over those things that seem trivial or painful. His whole life passes him by and he regrets not having experienced his life because he was too obsessed with reaching his goals. It is quite the metaphor for those of us who keep our nose to the grindstone in hopes that we get what we want in the future, but never quite being satisfied with what we get.

I am reminded of those people who are always living in the past either pining for something they had but lost. Whether it’s a relationship, a memory, or a situation that no longer is. These people feel that they can never be happy again.

 I am also reminded of those who live in the past of guilt. These people made a mistake in the past that they can’t let go off. Something that brings them shame even after others have long forgotten the events.

There are those who live in the past because they can’t forgive someone else or themselves. They can’t let it go, and events occur often that trigger them to relive the pain of that time. They can’t enjoy today because they can’t get beyond the past.

Living today frees us from worry, shame, guilt, and unforgiveness all those negative emotions of inaction. It faces fear straight in the face by saying. What can I do right now? What is my next step? What direction should I turn right now? It allows us to move. What we face may not always be pleasant, but if it isn’t, we are simply moving through it, not dwelling in it because we are taking each step as it comes.

Living today gives us the ability to look at and appreciate life around us. It gives us permission to get off the hamster wheel to stop and walk barefoot in the grass. It gives us the power to stop and smell the flowers, to ride bikes with our children while they are still children. It allows us the privilege of watching the sun rise or set. It gives us permission to stop and just enjoy the fact that we are alive!

Every day is a gift and that was my inspiration for writing the book Living Today, The Power of Now. I believe that it will inspire you as well as you read it.

Follow this link for your free preview of Living Today, The Power of Now.

In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

June 22, 2022
Historical Background, The Locket Saga
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Do you like good American History and a good who-dun-it, you’ll love In the Shadow of the Mill pond!

For the entire month of June, I am sharing my books in the first annual Cygnet Brown Book Club Month! All throughout the month, I will be featuring not one, but all the books that I have written to date. my next published book in the Locket Saga Series: In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

Book five of the Locket Saga takes us several years after the end of the American Revolution in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the time known as The Whiskey Rebellion. Under this backdrop of history, Lacey Mayford has fallen for Matthew Thorton, but Matthew is accused of murdering another member of the community. Lacey, though just a young teen, believes it is up to her to discover who the real culprit is and in so doing finds danger herself.

It still wasn’t time yet for our family to move to the wilds of Northwestern Pennsylvania, so I decided to explore an event that occurred in that part of the country in the 1790s which was termed The Whiskey Rebellion. What most people don’t know is how this could have been our first civil war, not between north and south but between east and west.

Back before the Federal Income Tax Amendment was put into effect, they had to get taxes in another way, and it was decided that they would tax whiskey. What many people did not know was that this tax on whiskey was more of a problem with the pioneers west of the Appalachian Mountains because making whiskey and selling it was the most profitable way to transport corn across the mountains was in whiskey jugs.

These people west of the mountains were livid because they believed that the tax wasn’t fair, they just weren’t going to pay it. The tax collectors that the US government sent were met by armed vigilantes who refused to share their profits when the population east of the mountains didn’t have to.

Add to this the murder and the fact that Matthew,  a half-breed Native American is accused of the murder, and you have an action-packed adventure.

I hope you take this opportunity to read the free sample of In the Shadow of the Mill Pond on Amazon:

When you love it, you can purchase a kindle copy or get it at no extra charge on KindleUnlimited

Look here on lulu.com if you prefer getting a paperback

https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/donna-brown/book-v-of-the-locket-saga-in-the-shadow-of-the-mill-pond/paperback/product-1nzvzpy7.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The Locket Saga Series Includes

When God Turned His Head

Soldiers Don’t Cry, The Locket Saga Continues

A Coward’s Solace

Sailing Under the Black Flag

In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

The Anvil

What’s That White Powder?

June 20, 2022
Uncategorized
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These microscopic diatoms are the descendants of the animals that created the fossils that become diatomaceous earth.

Have you ever heard of diatomaceous earth? If you haven’t heard of it, I’m about to share with you some amazing facts about this substance that can help you avoid the use of pesticides around your house and yard.

Several years ago, I was working at Shearers, a potato chip factory. Some of the varieties of chips that they made were considered organic which meant that they couldn’t be made using pesticides even inside the factory. Therefore, the management kept everything as clean as possible. We not only had to wear shoe covers and hair nets, but as we entered the factory, we walked onto the floor by walking over a mat containing diatomaceous earth because it used a physical rather than chemical means of controlling insect infestation.

Diatomaceous Earth, also referred to as “DE”, a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder formed from the fossil remains of diatoms. This dried sediment is also very high in silica and its deposits are found all around the world.

Can Use as An Insecticide

Diatomaceous earth is thought to kill insects by dehydrating them or drying them out. If applied carefully, it can be used as an insecticide for fleas and ticks on pets without harmful chemicals. It can be used for the same purpose in the garden or orchard.

Though it isn’t a chemical poisoning that causes diatomaceous earth to control insects, you need to take precautions when using this substance.

First, use only use food-grade diatomaceous earth if using this substance internally or externally on humans and pets. (Nonfood grade DE is used for other applications that do not involve direct use with humans and animals.)

Also, avoid breathing in diatomaceous earth because it is composed of small silica (glass!) particles and though it doesn’t cause skin problems, it can harm the delicate tissues within the lungs.

This is explained more in-depth in my book Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard.

It Can Be Taken Internally

In addition to being used as an insecticide, it can also be used for other purposes including taking internally.

When taken by mouth, diatomaceous earth is for treating high cholesterol, and constipation. It is also thought to remove heavy metals from the body through the digestive tract. Ingesting DE improves skin, nails, teeth, bones, and hair health.

Can be Used Externally

When applied to the skin or teeth, diatomaceous earth is used to brush teeth or remove unwanted dead skin cells. And more!

My book Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard gives much more details on how DE can be used to reduce the number of toxic chemicals you use around the house.

Now it’s your turn? Do you use DE? How do you use it?

What’s the Difference between a Pirate and a Privateer?

June 15, 2022
Historical Background, The Locket Saga
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Book IV of the Locket Saga

For the entire month of June, I am sharing my books in the first annual Cygnet Brown Book Club Month! All throughout the month, I will be featuring not one, but all the books that I have written to date. I am continuing the book club with my next published book in the Locket Saga Series: Sailing Under the Black Flag

This is the story of the impetuous and tenacious Jonathan Mayford who during Soldiers Don’t Cry was a starry-eyed patriot who wanted to bring King George to his knees. At the beginning of the story, he tries to join the Continental troops, but instead, his father, Peter Mayford convinces him to crew on one of his own ships. Through his time on the ship, the boy becomes a man as he endures hardships and falls in love with the raven-haired beauty Lowry Howells whose father keeps them separate.

A Privateer Was Legal, but Pirating Was Not

I wanted to see a side of the American Revolution that most people don’t know. For instance, before my research, I thought that pirates and privateers were the same, but they are not. A privateer is someone who had legal rights under the rules of military law to confiscate a ship, its cargo, crew and passengers and hold it for ransom during an official war. They were legally entitled to the spoils of war and if they were captured, they were considered prisoners of war. Pirates didn’t have that distinction. They were considered thieves and murderers and were hung or worse for their “crimes”. During much of the American Revolution, however, the British did not consider most American privateers as privateers but as pirates which meant that if caught, they would most likely lose their lives for their conduct.

John Forten-African American Revolutionary War Hero

As I was doing my research, I learned about James Forten and how on ships African Americans were treated like any other member of the crew. I also learned that being on a ship wasn’t like we see in the movies where a crazy pirate captain rules with an iron fist. Most ships during that time were democratic and the crew voted on a lot of what went on when they weren’t in battle. However, when they were, they had better listen to the captain or face a severe penalty.

The story of James Forten (a real person, not just one of my character creations) told of what it was like on prison ships and how he generously. . . well, you’ll have to read for yourself.

I hope you take this opportunity to read the free sample of Sailing Under the Black Flag on Amazon:

When you love it, you can purchase a kindle copy or get it at no extra charge on KindleUnlimited

If you prefer paperback, you can purchase your copy of Sailing Under the Black Flag on Lulu.com

The Locket Saga Series

Sailing Under the Black Flag is Part of The Locket Saga Series

When God Turned His Head

Soldiers Don’t Cry

A Coward’s Solace

Sailing Under the Black Flag

In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

The Anvil

My Other Love: Teaching What I Know

June 10, 2022
Best Books
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Write a book about what you know best.

As much as I love writing and I love gardening, another of my passions is in teaching others to do the things that I do. That’s why I write two blogs (see my other blog here) and why I wrote the book Write a Book and Ignite Your Business

How can you demonstrate best how much you know about your business? Write a book. How can you add a new income source to your business that augments what you are already doing? Write a book. How can you demonstrate to another person that you know your business better than the next guy? Write a book.  I believe that writing a book is a great way to show the world what you know.

Why should you write a book? Writing a book will help you demonstrate your expertise and create a new income stream for your business. Today more than ever, you have no excuse for not getting that book out that will demonstrate that you are knowledgeable in your business.

What should you write about you ask? You can write about how to do an aspect of your business. Here are a few ideas. If you’re a mechanic, a plumber, or a carpenter, write about how to do simple repairs that the average person can do. If you’re an electrician or a mechanic write a book about what the average person can do if they are having problems and know whether you’re being cheated or not. If you’re a real estate agent, share why the average home buyer needs an agent and how to avoid shady real estate deals. If you started your business, write about what you faced in starting your business, the problems you had, and how you avoided them. You might even tell what you wish you had known before you started your business that would have saved you time and money in the long run. If you’re a writer, of course, you can write about your process, how you avoid writer’s block, how you found your agent, publisher or how you self-publish, or just about your publishing journey. There’s more about choosing a topic in Write a Book and Ignite Your Business.

Write a book to leave a legacy. I personally decided to write this book because I wanted it as part of the legacy that I am leaving my children. I wanted to encourage them to share what they are doing with others as I have shared what I am doing by writing this book.

I wanted to help others make the most of their livelihoods. Life is short and it should all be about making money. Life shouldn’t be all work and no play. It should be about enjoying the life that you create for yourself, and I believe that writing a book is one way to help you do that.

Read a free sample of the book Write a Book and Ignite Your Business today on Amazon.

For more about my other books and writing, here’s my Amazon Author Page!

Where did a Coward’s Solace Originate?

June 8, 2022
The Locket Saga
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Book III of the Locket Saga

For the entire month of June, I am sharing my books in the first annual Cygnet Brown Book Club Month! All throughout the month, I will be featuring not one, but all the books that I have written to date. I am continuing the book club with my next published book in the Locket Saga Series: A Coward’s Solace.

The idea for Book III of the Locket Saga: A Coward’s Solace came into being while I was editing Soldiers Don’t Cry.  I wondered what would happen if one of the characters who was supposedly dead at the beginning of Soldiers Don’t Cry wasn’t dead after all.  I went back to Soldiers Don’t Cry and didn’t kill off one of the characters who was supposedly killed during Soldiers and this person returns from the supposed death. Since you know this now, you may be able to figure out who wasn’t dead by reading the sample pages from Soldiers Don’t Cry

One of my goals in this book was to start moving the family from Massachusetts back to the wilds of Pennsylvania, but with the Revolutionary War going on, I couldn’t get them there just yet so I decided to get them at least as far as Valley Forge and at the end of the book it got them as far as the frontier town of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania.

Until I did the research, I didn’t see how close the Americans had been to losing the war in 1777. If it weren’t for the surrender of Burgoyne’s Army to Horatio Gates at Saratoga that fall, the year would have been a total disaster. This victory was the only reason that France agreed to assist the Americans in their fight to shake off the shackles of British rule. Not that Horatio Gates had much to do with it. It was his quick-witted subordinates Benedict Arnold (yes, that Benedict Arnold), Enoch Poor, Benjamin Lincoln, and Daniel Morgan who gained the victory that day.

So, who did I consider the coward in A Coward’s Solace? Well, I think some of the Americans could have seen George Washington as the coward.  I didn’t realize how close George Washington came to losing his place in leadership with the American forces either. If it weren’t for the fact that many of his troops and leadership including Lafayette loved him, he might have been replaced. The way he handled and encouraged his troops at Valley Forge was amazing, and I hope I reflected that in A Coward’s Solace.

Head of Stone (not his real name, but you’ll discover that on your own) considered himself a coward in this story as well, as he even tells Martha in the story.

I don’t see either of them as cowards, but both found peace or solace after all was said and done.

I hope you take this opportunity to read the free sample of A Coward’s Solace on Amazon:

When you love it, you can purchase a kindle copy or get it at no extra charge on KindleUnlimited

If you prefer paperback You can purchase your copy on Lulu.com

Check out the Entire Locket Saga Series

When God Turned His Head

Soldiers Don’t Cry

A Coward’s Solace

Sailing Under the Black Flag

In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

The Anvil

How did the Locket Saga Begin?

June 3, 2022
Best Books, Historical Background, The Locket Saga
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I didn’t start writing The Locket Saga with the first book. Soldiers Don’t Cry was the first book I started writing in The Locket Saga.

For the entire month of June, I am sharing my books in the first annual Cygnet Brown Book Club Month! All throughout the month, I will be featuring not one, but all of the books that I have written to date. Today the featured book club is: Soldiers Don’t Cry.

It Probably Started When I Ate Pizza Just Before Going to Bed

The idea for Soldiers Don’t Cry, The Locket Saga Continues started with a dream that I had one night. I dreamed that there was a young woman and a young man sitting on two ends of a puncheon log bench that was along a log cabin wall. The bench was about twelve feet long and she sat at one end of the bench and he sat at the other end. I KNEW that what I was seeing was a scene from before 1800.

He said, “Don’t I know you from somewhere.” And she said, “Yes, we knew each other as children.”

It was from this dream that I got the idea of a girl who had grown up in Western Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. I determined that however she grew up in Boston with her sister and the boy grew up in England and that something brought them back together. That something I determined was the American Revolutionary War and he came back as a British Officer. She was an American spy and smuggler. Getting them together in the same place was easy. Before the war, Boston and other parts of New England were to quarter soldiers in their homes. This infuriated patriots so much that they included “no quartering of soldiers during peacetime” as the third amendment to the Constitution. It did, however, set it up so that Phillip Randolph, the hero of the story was quartered in Elizabeth’s (the heroine) in the same home. Add to that and you have the makings of quite the twisted adventure story.

Even though it is the second book published, Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues was the first book that I started writing in the Locket Saga, but as I was writing it, I wondered what happened to the parents of Elizabeth and Rachel. This led me to write When God Turned His Head the first book which I wrote about earlier in the week. (See post)

The Original Manuscript Was Deleted!

One thing about this book that many people don’t know is that I had to write the book twice. Years ago, just after When God Turned His Head was published, I had the completed manuscript of Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues on my computer and the computer didn’t have enough memory left on it, so a friend suggested that we “wipe the data and clean out unwanted files”. He said we could save what we wanted to keep but anything that we didn’t put behind a wall would be erased forever. A agreed to let my husband and my friend wipe the files from the computer, but asked that he save all of the document files. He saved only a single file that had the Word document in it and all the books that I had on the computer were gone forever.

Rather than whining about my loss, (Okay, so I did whine a little, Okay, a lot. I am human, after all) I decided to recreate the book and I think that in a lot of ways I came up with a better book than the original. The book was rewritten in less than a year. I learned a valuable lesson. When something bad happens, don’t let it get you down, let it fire you up!

So how about you? Have you ever finished a project that you spent years on that you had to re-do because of a technical error? I would love to hear about it. Share your experience in the comment section below.

Did you know that you can read a free sample of Soldiers Don’t Cry right on Amazon? LOOK INSIDE

The Locket Saga Series

When God Turned His Head

Soldiers Don’t Cry, The Locket Saga Continues

A Coward’s Solace

Sailing Under the Black Flag

In the Shadow of the Mill Pond

The Anvil

Cygnet Brown Book Club Month Begins with When God Turned His Head

June 1, 2022
Best Books, book reviews, Cultural Influence, Historical Background
2 Comments

For the entire month of June, I am sharing my books in the first annual Cygnet Brown Book Club Month! All throughout the month, I will be featuring not one, but all of the books that I have written to date. I am beginning the book club with my first published book: When God Turned His Head.

The First Book in the Locket Saga

The Story Behind the Book

When God Turned His Head is the first book of the Locket Saga, but it was not the first book of the series that I started writing. I started with the second book Soldiers Don’t Cry, The Locket Saga Continues and rather than making When God Turned His Head a prequel to Soldiers Don’t Cry, I made it the premiere book.

The idea for this book started when I was writing about when Rachel and Elizabeth are entertaining their uninvited guests when the question came up about their parentage and the girls told them that they had the same mother, but not the same father. They also said that their parents had been indentured servants.

That was when I wondered what happened to them. About that same time, I read the story about the murder of John Codman in the middle of the 1700s and thought the details would be fantastic to fashion into a historical murder mystery. Many of the facts were exactly how they happened. I just added Drusilla as his wife and Rachel as his daughter.

I wrote this book at a very difficult time in my life. I had been working as a nurse and hated it. Every day I had been afraid that I would kill someone by some mistake that I made. I won’t go into the details, but the fear of making a mistake and harming a patient caused me to sabotage my nursing career. Then I was afraid to tell my husband that I had lost my job. It didn’t do much for my marriage, I’ll tell you that.

After I lost my job, my husband also lost his because of something that was not his fault, but because he quit that trucking company, they reported him to DAK for an accident that was an equipment error that he had no way of knowing would happen. He had no recourse in the issue. He was shunned from truck-driving for the next three years.

Before losing our jobs, we had been doing everything right. We put sweat equity into the house we were building. In 2007, just before all this went down, we had fifty percent equity in our home. We had two vehicles. One was completely paid for. Regarding our other car, we had easily been making the payments. We had been paying extra on our mortgage and making extra payments on our credit cards. Life was good. However, in a short time, everything fell apart.

At about the same time, we lost our jobs, the housing bubble burst and the recession hit. The equity in our home disappeared overnight. We couldn’t make our payments because we didn’t have a job. A boy stole our truck that we had paid off and he wrecked it. The other car was repossessed while I was selling muffins in the town 9 miles from our house. I had to call my husband to get the neighbor to come pick me up.

Because my husband lost his job, he also couldn’t pay the child support that he owed to his ex-wife, and he ended up in jail for nonpayment.

If it weren’t for our pastor providing us with a car to drive and paying enough to get him out of jail, I don’t know what we would have done. He got a job driving a school bus for a local school which was enough to pay the child support, but not enough to save our house. He was talking about the possibility of having to live under a bridge.  

I was depressed. I was depressed enough to seek professional help, but I refused to take medications to mask what I was feeling. The psychologist who I was seeing suggested that I try journaling, and journaling led me to get back to writing which I had done since I was twelve years old. I wrote When God Turned His Head while all this was going on. Journaling and writing the book took me out of my state of depression.

While writing the book, we did lose our house, but we didn’t have to live under a bridge because my brother let us move into his house with him. During this time, I incorporated my emotional state into Drusilla’s situation. It was highly therapeutic.

Bad things happen to good people and sometimes it seems as though God does turn his head and the winters of life blow their snows of life, but eventually, the flowers of life do return. Like me and like Drusilla, you must push through the hard times, and eventually, you’ll pass through. As it says in Psalm 23:

“Yea, though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”

Psalm 23:4 KJV

Let me know in the comments below if you have already read the book, and any thoughts you have regarding it. I love hearing from my readers!

Did you know that you can read a free sample of When God Turned His Head right on Amazon? LOOK INSIDE

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