I’ve been asked, what motivates me? Well, to answer that, honestly, it’s the characters. They won’t let me go until I tell their whole story.

Matt and Milla are very real to me (since they’re my great-grandparents), and I swear sometimes I can feel them urging me along.

Some things that I have been trying to use to improve my writing are the director/movie-watching technique more often, especially when I get stuck in a scene. These help in more ways than one. I also listen to several podcasts about writing and interviews with authors and their experiences, and how they deal with continuing a story or even writer’s block.

Book three is moving along and will be (I hope) out by Christmas.

I’m already working on my next series and am currently diving into the Choctaw Removal of 1830 from Mississippi to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma), and the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. I was blessed to meet up with “The Guru of the Yazoo,” at least that’s what I call him. A man who knows more about the history of the Choctaw and the time period of the Treaty than anyone I have spoken with.

We explored the land my 5x great-grandmother (Elise Beams) was born on, the land the Folsom’s owned at the time, and the area of the treaty grounds. Most of it is closed to the public, but just from driving around and going where we were allowed, it gave me a glimpse of the landscape and such respect for my ancestry. I will write about their journey on the government trail.