I never expected to see this day! You see back in December of 2009 when I began writing Dragon’s Future, the story was just that–a story for my family. In fact, I never thought there would be a full story, let alone five!

The Beginning:

By July, 2010, the last word in Dragon’s Cure had been written. At that point, I sat back amazed. In August, I printed out each one of the stories on an ink jet printer, flipping the pages over to print double sided, and then put them into report folios. I created a cover page and read them to the kids. Then I handed them to a friend. She read through them, handed them to her husband who handed them off to their voracious twelve-year-old son. He in turn gave them back to his parents asking, “Where’s book five?”

Book Five:

Somewhere in the mix of printing, reading, and giving the books to my friends, an idea had formed, and I began writing again. The story-line had moved along where all the new characters had been introduced and all the old characters had been visited at least once, when writer’s block set in. No matter what I tried–re-reading all four previous stories, re-reading what I had written, drawing pictures from the stories–nothing worked. The story sat on my computer until Spring of 2015.

A Turning Point:

At the end of March, 2015, I signed a publishing contract! I sat amazed that Dragon’s Future had managed to make the cut. My friends who read them back in 2010 weren’t surprised. They encouraged me. So, when editing came about, and we discussed how to market multiple books, I asked about putting the first chapter of Dragon’s Heir at the end of Dragon’s Future. When my publisher discovered there were more in the series, they eagerly accepted them. That meant I needed to finish writing book 5. So, back to the computer I went. This time not only was there a boy interested in my books, but a publisher and a deadline of sorts!

With enthusiasm, I jumped back into the world of Dragon Courage. I enjoyed getting to meet my characters again. I asked questions about new characters, took notes about where things needed to go, and then hit that horrid spot–the place where I had always stopped. It got me again. I stopped. Nothing would connect what I knew had to happen with that point in the story. So, I backed up. I hit delete and took out a scene. Another idea came to me, and suddenly, the story flowed again. I had a purpose with the storyline.

The Purpose:

Writing Dragon’s Posterity held challenges. I live in a household of two women and four men. Asking forgiveness and granting forgiveness generally comes easy to me, but I’ve seen my boys struggle with it. To be able to say the words “would you forgive me” is like pulling teeth! I wanted that to be the theme of the book, but I couldn’t understand the struggle of saying those words. I had to get into the mind of my characters and figure out why would it be hard. As the time came at the end of the book, the words flowed. I understood the pride they had to set aside to accept they had done wrong. And so, the book wound down. The last scenes played out.

Next Step:

I sat back surprised and nervous. Would the story flow or would everyone be able to tell where I had stumbled? Did I still have the same story-telling ability that my publisher had enjoyed in book one? I didn’t know. This summer as Dragon’s Cure went live, I sent Dragon’s Posterity out to beta readers. The first had never read the series before. She came in strictly new. Her input was invaluable! I will ever be indebted to her wisdom. After adjusting the story, I sent it to a another beta reader. This one was a fan of the series. However, she’s honest. Up until that point, Dragon’s Revenge was her favorite book. She returned Dragon’s Posterity with the words of encouragement that it was her favorite of the series!

Today, I have the privilege of presenting to you, Dragon’s Posterity, book 5 in the Dragon Courage series. It is now live on Amazon in kindle format. Nook and iTunes will go live on Friday. May you enjoy it as much as my beta readers, and may your dragon fly true!