Apparently, it did mean something, because within six months of the book being published, I was getting all sort of emails and text asking me when and if there was going to be a sequel. I had not planned on writing one, but I thought the idea had some merit to it. I pondered on it for a while and then one afternoon in May of 2023 I sat down at my desk and decided to let the characters go where they might would have.
Back in 2021, I wrote and published a book entitled, WHISPERS OF WINTER. I thought that it was a decent book. I wrote it so I knew the characters, and I knew where the plot was going to go, still I cried at the end of my own book. I wondered if that meant something.
I have to say here, that the book almost wrote itself. Unbeknownst to me, the characters in had in fact become very real in my mind. I would be outside working on my farm, plowing fields, tending to the sheep or cattle, cutting hay and suddenly I could see Jolie Mossman -Johnson there doing the same thing. I could hear her voice; I could feel what she would be feeling. Then, I couldn’t get back to my computer fast enough to get it all recorded on the pages.
It reminds me of a friend of mine that once explained to me the freedom and peacefulness of jumping on a Harley and allowing the road to just take you where it will, and all you have to do is lean back, feel the wind on your face, and be prepared to take in all the beauty that comes your way. Now I know, my book isn’t a Harley, but it feels much like that to me. The new characters and situations just kept popping into my mind and they would spring up from the pages exactly as i had imagined them. One night, a few weeks back, I literally saw the new man in the sequel Morgan Wheeler in my dreams. It was the coolest, thing to see. Its amazing what the mind can do when you are so focused.
On February 9, I hit the send button and sent the second book off to the publishers. I did not realize that I had sent it on this day until later that evening. I found it a personal gift that it all settled down to that day. The anniversary date of one of the hardest, emotionally shattering days of my life. A day that caused me to destroy and burn fifty years of my journals and writing. Had I been alone that day, I am sure, I would have taken myself out in a different way. I guess at the time, burning my entire life up, my whole heart, all my memories inside a large central boiler outdoor wood burner was as close as I could get to being gone. I do not condone suicide, in any way, and I pray and ache for those that have chosen that road. I am not the judge of anyone for anything they do, but i will say this, I DO UNDERSTAND all the emotional baggage and pain that comes with the terrible decision. When a person has fallen so low, that they take a permanent solution to a temporary situation. My heart aches for those people, and I will always go running towards anyone that is that low and needs to talk. My point being, I believe that it was deliberate that GOD had arranged for the sequel to be completed and sent in on the same day, February 9, one year later. I took it as a small gift just for me.
The first book. WHISPERS OF WINTER, (I refer to as W.O.W.) contained 416 pages. The sequel WHISPERS OF AUTUMN ( W.O.A.) has 450 pages. Now, all that is left is to sit back and wait for the finished product to arrive at my door, and then to hit the world wide web. This week the art department sent me a “proof” of the cover, that I am supposed to accept or refuse. I refused their first attempt.
When I submitted Whispers of Winter, I was so excited to see my project come to life, that I didn’t make any changes to their suggestions. This time, on the sequel …….Whispers of Autumn I had a few suggestions I sent back to the art department for repair. It’s crazy cool how Morgan came to me in a dream, I saw him so clearly and perfectly and it made it simple to explain to the art dept how he should look on the cover of this book. THIS COVER THAT I AM SHARING WITH YOU, IS THE FIRST PROOF AND WILL NOT BE THE FINAL COVER but i wanted to show the two of books together.
Now, the groundwork has been laid, here is the reason for this blog post. I have been BLESSED with 12 beautiful grandchildren. After I had sent in the book, some of my grand girls were playing in my office, at my desk and suddenly questions were popping up about the large manuscript sitting on the desk. I didn’t have to try and explain, as my grandson Logan began to explain that it was my second book, he then pointed to the cover of the first book that is hanging on my wall from a book signing and explained. “
Yes, here is Omie’s first book. (Omie is German for grandma) and then he explained that Whispers of Autumn would be the second one and I would probably do another canvas of that book when its finished. I was impressed that he knows all this, as I haven’t really ever told them all about it. His sister, Emmalynn who is named after me, partially, also explained where these books are stored and that I promised her, that there is a book for each of my grandchildren stored in my bedroom closet for when they are older. Then, she asked me if I was going to write anymore books. I said no, I am done, that’s the last one.
Once the question and answering session was over, I went back to the kitchen and thought nothing more about any of it. On Monday, close to the end of the day, I sat down at my desk for a few minutes and found these notes had been written by those granddaughters that day and man did those pieces of paper tug at my heart strings.
The girls had left little notes stuck to my calendar that said … ” I love you Omie” and Emmalynn had decided to go ahead and encourage me to write a few books. She had told me on Sunday, “Omie, You wrote WHISPERS OF WINTER, and now WIHSPERS OF AUTUMN, you need to write Whispers of Spring and Whispers of Summer too.
You gotta LOVE that kind of LOVE.
Sidenote: To be honest, I cannot say how many times, I hear Jolie and Morgan having a conversation together at their table. I can walk in a barn, or be working in a garden, making dinner, folding laundry and in my mind, I hear them talking amongst themselves. I am not sure if that makes me a decent writer, or a hair bit on the crazy side. Either way, it’s delicious !!