In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, I'm sharing the "Tranquility Base" chapter from Cross Country.  This chapter was not actually in the book when I originally planned out the story and started writing.  But I got to a point where the story started to feel darker and heavier than I wanted. Bets was supposed to be going on an adventurous trip across the county with her good friend Emmie, riding in a cool VW camper! Instead, she was dealing with racist, abusive Seth, feeling guilty about leaving her parents, and weighed down by all that was happening with the war in Vietnam.

I needed something to lift the story up, and the moon landing was a perfect fit. In the same way I needed a positive to counter all the negatives I was throwing at Bets, the moon landing seemed to lift our country up, during a troublesome time. It made perfect sense that experiencing the moon landing would inspire Bets and give her hope.

I had fun researching for this chapter, learning more about the Apollo 11 mission, and listening over and over again to the audio from the landing and first steps.  Most of all, I enjoying imagining the perfect way to experience this amazing historic event!

Bets may have driven all the way across the country, but I feel like I covered just as many miles in the last few months. 

​If only I were driving an old VW camper... or flying a Lockheed Electra.

In early October, I spoke at the Clarence Book Review Club about some of the decisions I made while writing Cross Country. The CBRC is a great group of book enthusiasts, and I really enjoyed sharing my writing process with them.  

I hadn't planned on writing a sequel to Miss E. In this video, I discuss what went into my decision to write another book about Bets.

Miss E. did not have an antagonist. Much of the conflict in that story was internal, so I was looking forward to creating a villain in Cross Country, but there were some important considerations I had to keep in mind while writing.

It's tricky learning to drive a standard shift automobile, and writing about that experience proved to be almost as challenging!

Writing historical fiction involves a careful mix of factual history and good story telling. With an event as important as the first Moon landing, I wanted to be sure the significance of that moment in history came through in my writing.

I'll be joining other local authors at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library's Indie Author Day.  50 authors from the Buffalo area will be setup in the downtown branch of the library,

I'll be signing copies of Miss E. and Cross Country and giving away all kinds of goodies.

I'll be signing copies of Miss E. and Cross Country at the Edinburg Ole Time Festival in the authors room at the Edinburg Mill. This is my first time visiting the festival, and I'm looking forward to checking it out. It looks like a it will be a fun day!

The festival runs from September 21-23.  I'll be there on Saturday, September 22 from 10:00-5:00.  You can find out more on the festival's website.