Have you ever wanted to know where the ideas come from as you read a book? How in the world did they ever think of that? you might think to yourself. We writers wonder exactly the same thing. So, I thought I’d let you know how Everelle’s Quest began.

It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that, actually. First there was this dream I had about  seven years ago. I dreamed I was running with a group of people to escape a fire and we went into a cave and came out on the top of a mountain in a very cute village.

I wrote the dream down and thought what a great story it would make. Over the next years that dream would come to mind often, but I could never figure out what to do with it. That’s number one in the equation.

Meanwhile, other fantasies came out and I LOVED them except for one thing. The violence was too much for me. I began talking to God about how great it would be to write stories that people could read and wouldn’t have to be scared out of their wits but still would be an adventurous, fun-filled story. That’s number two in the equation.

In 2010 when the circus came to town, I wrote a story for the Valley Town Crier about it and the General Manager of the version coming to our city. We went to the circus-Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey-when they came to the Valley. When they did a give-away of a painting by one of their elephant’s-its foot-I won it.

Hanging it in my office I often stared at that elephant foot, amazed at the patterns that it made. After a few months I began seeing forests, mountains, rivers, lakes and a desert on this “island” of Foote. Then I began wondering what it would be like to visit it. That was number three in the equation.

In 2014 after I finished writing for the Winter Texan Times for the season, I settled into writing what I thought would be my second book, my husband’s fascinating bio. However, one night in March about 10:00 p.m., I sat down at the computer and began writing this story that combined all three parts of the equation. By midnight, the first five chapters were done. Isle of Foote, with a final name of Everelle’s Quest, an Isle of Foote novel, was born.

I handed it to my hubby to read, definitely NOT his genre, and much to his surprise he liked it and wanted more. Before long, his bio got put to the side and Everelle’s Quest took up my life. The characters came alive, along with their stories. First it was during the night I would write. Then it became a full time day job.

By September the first draft was done and I doled it out to friends and family to tell me whether I should continue on the publishing path. Everyone gave me a resounding, YES!, and now, over a year later, the eBook is online at these stores. Just click on the retailer you want. Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Inktera, Scribd, Tolin0-a network of 15 European distributors, and Amazon.

My print version is on its last tweaking with the printer and should be out in a few weeks-just in time for Christmas.

And it begins…

Only eight of us were left. I didn’t know where the rest of the world had gone. I didn’t remember anything except the overwhelming fear which consumed my soul. I ran through the red, smoke-filled air, following those ahead of me like a shadow. There didn’t seem to be much of me left, whoever I was. My body seemed healthy but my memory was gone!