A warm day in Georgia means Porch Time for me.
When the temp hits 66 and above you'll find me where I'm most productive - working on my back porch, bundled up as needed. Something about fresh air and birdsong makes the work flow better. I probably got as much done today as I have all month. Unfortunately, the temps are dropping back to normal tomorrow. It will be a few  weeks before I get more days outside. I'll just have to plug away in my walled office but at least I have a window. That's more than I can say for the first twenty years of my working career.

I do have some good news to share as well. Love in Key West was released in Audible format this week. Salvaged Love is still in review but expected to be available soon. Anyone interested in my audible books should reach out to me for an opportunity to listen for free.

And you may be asking what I was working on today. Besides doing an interview for Book Club Mom and writing this post, I'm working on writing Divided Love. Whereas the last book, Once Upon an Island Christmas focused on the Whitmore family, this one will focus on the Eatonton brothers: Christoff, Thorn, Nate and Jacob.

Hope those groundhogs predict an early spring.
Keep safe ya'll.
Susan

Most of us know of General Sherman for leading the destructive march through my home state of Georgia to end the Civil War. I discovered a compassionate side of this man while researching the Indian Key massacre for Love Again.

This is an entry from Hester Perrine Walker's diary. She was one of the few survivors from that fateful night in 1840:
"Long Years after, General Sherman met me at West Point, & said to me, "Mrs. Walker, I was stationed at Indian Key for three years after you left there, and the first thing I did every morning after breakfast, was to walk around upon that stone wall and look down into your living grave. And now whenever you tell your story, I want you to say from me to you, that no matter how exaggerated your story may seem, no one, but one who has stood as I have & looked into that living grave could begin to realize its horrors. You know that I have been in every war, both Indian & Civil since I entered the Service, and I say, there never has been, there never will be, and there never can be, such a marvelous escape from death as yours. It was an escape from death at the hands of the Indians, from fire and from drowning."
Sherman was twenty at the time of this story and both he and Hester Perrine's miraculous survival have a part to play in Love Again.

The drawing is of Dr. Perrine's house on Indian Key.

Want more of Hester’s story of life on Indian Key and her miraculous survival?
http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1947/47_1_04.pdf

Finally! Henry and Emily's story is written. Now I just have to make it better with more emotion, more description, plumping it up with more everything. But the base is there.

The warmer weather we had this week proved a catalyst for writing. Solid proof my happy, creative place is on my screened in porch. Even though I had to bundle up to be out there I got an amazing amount done. One day even hitting 6000 words. My second highest record. 2000 is a good day.

No on to the edits. I know we're all anxious for me to be done. I already have the  next two books fighting for their day in the sun.

It should be an exciting year. An audio version of Salvaged Love is also in the works.

Happy Valentine's

I'm making progress ya'll!

Bet you've been wondering since I've been silent for so long, other than the Valentine's Day campaign which was fun. 
       Congratulations to Bonnie Rodi - $25 Amazon gift card winner.

What have I been up to? Book 3 - Enduring Love is coming along nicely.  I'm reaching the home stretch in the writing process so my mind has been wandering ahead to Book 4. I think I have to admit, researching history is fun for me (I never would have imagined saying that in high school) and one of my favorite parts of spinning stories. I'm excited because I'm finally headed back to Key West. Looking forward to spending some time in the library with a rare (and quite large) book pertaining specifically to events related to Key West and the Civil War. I also will have time to pick the brain of the library's legendary historian, Tom Hambright.
 
Oh No you say! Not another war book after all that Seminole War business in Love Again.  I agree, so don't get alarmed - Key West never saw any battles but there were many other interesting things going on to spark a writers imagination.

If you're signed up for my email list, you'll receive your free ebook of Love in Key West soon. It's in the hands of my proof reader and I'm as anxious as you are to see it finished. Hoping to have it out before the end of March. This book is available exclusively to those signed up to receive emails. If you haven't done so, take a moment now to click the Free Book! tab at the top and get your name on the list.

I am officially a full-time writer.

Yep, that’s right – I left the J-O-B to do what I love most. How special is that!!! Big thanks to my hubby.  Without his support (financially and unconditionally), this wouldn’t have happened. What started as a hobby and turned into a part-time passion will now be my full-time obsession.

So in celebration Love Again Kindle version will be discounted to $0.99 starting Friday 2/9 through Valentine’s Day. If you haven’t purchased your copy – you’ll want to buy it Friday.

What’s next? I’m finishing up a novella featuring Jason & Victoria from Salvaged Love and then on to book number three which is already started. Eventually I plan to have 8 or 12 books in the Love in Key West series with the last book published in time for the 200th anniversary of the founding of Key West in 2022.  That means six to ten books in the next five years. You can find more details here. I’m excited to make it happen and on that note, I’m headed back to the writing.

May your 2018 be full of love.

Susan

I am absolutely thrilled to finally have released Love Again to my readers.  I'm really proud of how it turned out and sincerely hope you enjoy reading it.  I knew it would be longer than Salvaged Love but seing the printed version - it's HUGE! It ended up almost twice as long but then it does span 11 years.

Even more exciting, I am headed into 2017 working on book number three. I've been looking forward to writing this one for four years and now I finally get to dive into it.  Enduring Love is the love story of the children from the first two books set against the horrific Great Havana Hurricane of 1846.  Life and death will hang in the balance and when the worst has passed it will take enduring love and their pioneer spirit to rebuild their island community.

The first book took 7 years, the second 4 years - here's hoping this one will be done in 2

Hello 2017
Wishing you all the best,
Susan

I am celebrating! After three and half years of working on it, I finally finished writing Love Again. This is a HUGE step in the process of getting it into my readers hands and a big relief since this story was a difficult one to write due to the intricacies of weaving my fictional story into the historic facts. While I enjoyed the challenge, it took much longer than anticipated.

So now what? The next step is editing and then proofreading before the book is ready to publish. This will take many months to complete. You can check the status on my Work in Progress page.

Now you know what I will be doing this summer.
Hope your summer is a great one.

Susan

Last year, I spent every spare moment on the book, I got a lot of writing done but the neglect showed everywhere else in my life. I've spent the first two weeks of this year putting my house back in order so to speak and now I'm ready to get back to writing.
                           The finish line is in site - I just have to get there.
A few chapters left to write, some serious editing and voilà! Love Again will be ready to publish. My goal is to put it in reader's hands by summer. It's a lofty goal but I'm going to do my darnedest to reach it. Meanwhile, work has begun on the cover art.  Here's a little tease of what's to come from the cover and the story...

Excerpt from Love Again by Susan Blackmon
Theodore and Betsy sailed to a secluded cove surrounded on three sides by mangrove islands and shallow sand bars ensuring anything larger than a row boat would have to keep distant. They slipped into the cooling waters for a swim splashing and frolicking until Theodore caught her up against his chest then their play became that of lovers.