Tadie Longworth wouldn’t stop poking at me. She was tired of her quiet, monochromatic life and all those breezeless days. I could sympathize. After all, we’re both sailors.
I finally have good news for her and her Beaufort friends. My agent, Terry Burns, forwarded a contract yesterday that will let Tadie kick up her heels and see a little color in her life.
I’ve tweaked my stories, slashed and dashed, set one aside to write another. From keyboard to floppy discs and later onto one hard drive after another, characters have lived with me and begged for breathing room. Some only told me a bit about themselves, a paragraph or two, a chapter, and so they waited. Or I waited, until their clamoring forced me to people their world and let them into mine.
Now, the first of my Beaufort stories has found a home. Tadie, who loves to sail to Cape Lookout in a sharpie much like mine, will find her way into print at a fitting home: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. Can you imagine a more perfect name for a publisher of my sailing stories? Jilly must be doing a little happy dance, her bright orange pigtails bouncing as she peeks out from the companionway steps at the brilliant color of the sunrise. “Wake up, daddy! We’ve got things to do and people to meet!”
Becalmed is becalmed no longer. Keep a look out for more news of Tadie and the Beaufort crew as it becomes available.
Congratulations! Very cool news, Normandy!
Thank you, Sally. I can’t wait to hold it in my hands. And then maybe its sequel!
Told ya, Girlfriend! Hallelujah! Excellent news. So happy for you, N.
Merci, Nicole!
Doing the dance of joy (at least in my mind LOL)!
Come on over, Brenda (from wherever you are) and we’ll dance a jig together!
I’m SO SO HAPPY for you!!!!
I wouldn’t have gotten here, Jane, without your excellent critiques and your prayers. Thank you for both!
That’s awesome Normandie! Congratulations!
Steph
Thank you, Steph! I appreciate the encouragement you’ve always given me. Be blessed.
Anyone here who follows the link to Jane Lebak’s blog will discover the gal who helped me get here. I’ve never had a better critique partner than Jane, who always tells me what she thinks — even when she knows I’m going to reel from it. Every suggestion she makes pushes me to be a better writer.
Congratulations, Normandie . . . a voice from the past. Don’t know if you remember me. I was part of the critique group with you and Jane a few years back. Jane just told me about your exciting news and had to jump over here and congratulate you. I remember loving so much what I read.
Mark Venturini
Of course I remember you, Mark. How are things going with your writing and your world?
Feel free to send me an email, if you’d like.
N