YAHOOOOOO! I DID IT!!!

This January, I made three resolutions. One of them was to finish the novel I've been writing for the past twenty months. And I did it! Four hundred and eighty-five pages and one thousand, three hundred and fifty words later EMMA SHELBY IS NO MORE is written!

I'm sorry that I disappered this week, but I simply had to get it done. I was too close to the end and what a journey this has been!

For those of you who emailed me wondering where I was, and if I was all right, I thank you for your caring and concern. Now, I hope to have more time to sit and shmooze. I missed you all too.

Wanna know what the book is about? Here is a rough synopsis.

Emma Shelby was an orphan. Her father was killed in the Korean War a few months before she was born, and when she was seventeen her mother died from complications of the flu. Luckily, she was an honour student and was able to get a full scholarship to study at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

That is where she meets Rafiq Moussa, a Lebanese Muslim.

Due to a personal tragedy, the Moussa's moved to America where they thought they could pick up the pieces of their life and build a future.

Emma knows nothing about life. Rafiq knows too much.

Emma finds herself thrown into a world of belly dancers, exotic spices and a culture so strange that she forgets for awhile the dreams she had and the degree in literature that she struggled so hard to earn.

Then, when a stranger knocks on her door, her whole life is turned upside down. Everyone she thought she could trust and believe in has betrayed her.

Is Rafiq's and Emma's love strong enough to carry them to a safe place where each can honor the other's culture while not giving up their own beliefs along the way? Can Emma trust him, or anyone ever again?

These are some of the questions Emma is forced to ask herself. The questions are easy, finding the answers are much more complicated.

Well, folks that's it in a nutshell. What a joy it was writing this story. I'm going to miss all these wonderful characters who have been keeping me company for nearly two years.

Thanks for missing me...I missed you too....owee owee owee as Rafi would say.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.