Cue the music from The Lion King. Okay, that’s good. When we think of the circle of life, we think of generations, of handing the baton on to the next runners. Each age has their own unique abilities and histories. Where siblings share part of their stories, the parents and grandparents have a different back story. This is true with books as well. Books in a series are like siblings–each starting in the same place and sharing a story, although the paths taken may be slightly different. Books that are singletons are like the parents or grandparents or children and grandchildren–they have their own story but have similarities to the others.

Dragon’s Future released sixteen days ago. It doesn’t seem possible that it was that long ago. On Saturday, I had the privilege to hold my first book in my hand. The place in life for Dragon’s Future is the first born. He will have four siblings and their story will intertwine–same author and back story, same editor, cover artist and proofreader. So, sit back and watch the cycle of Dragon’s Future.

Just before I was able to hold Dragon’s Future in my hands, I took another step in the publishing world–I hit submit to layout of another book. This book has its own story, a different section of the publishing company, and in essence is the child or even grandchild of Dragon’s Future. This new book will be published under Booktrope’s Vox Dei imprint. Say hello to The One Who Sees Me.

My fascination with the story of The One Who Sees Me goes back to 1998 when I was struggling with a shadowed memory of abuse when I was a child. I was trying to heal from the shock of realizing I had hidden all those memories. I reached out to a friend, who suggested I read Kay Arthur’s Lord, Heal My Hurts. Kay loves to look into the names of God. She shared the name The One Who Sees Me. God reveals this name for Himself when a young servant girl finds herself in a very unenviable position. She runs away and meets The One Who Sees Me. She realizes that God sees everything! This was such a comfort at that time in my life. It helped me realize that although God didn’t plan the abuse, He had a plan for it to be turned into good if I would let Him.

Fast forward to 2007. I had finished writing what would become The Dragon Courage series and was dabbling in drawing. I had joined the artists’ social media site DeviantArt and made some virtual friends. One of whom was a missionary and pastor’s kid based in Asia. She created a challenge. She wanted to see how many of the women of the Bible she could write poetry about. She challenged other artists to apply their talents to do the same. I submitted my Christmas play from the point of view of Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross looking back on his life, and a monologue by Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. I wanted to add The One Who Sees Me as a drawing of an eye with a silhouette of a pregnant woman. I never got around to drawing it. However, in November of 2014 I wrote the story. It will be available for purchase on October 3, 2015, less than a year from its writing.

Hence, the circle of life has been closed. I know that many more books may yet grace my family, but the firstborns will be the ones that will be held in awe and wonder. The story teller will say, “Gather round as I tell you the tale of a book.”