Happy, Happy Holidays!

This has been a tough year for many of us, financially and otherwise.  But certainly there have been bright spots that we can look back on and draw strength from, which will help us to enjoy a happier Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years.

For me there have been some landmarks this year.  My husband and I finally signed with an agent/manager.  We performed at the prestigious star-studded Silver Spur Awards, entertaining and rubbing elbows with such delightful people as Lou Gossett, Jr., Wilford Brimley, Bo Hopkins, and Bo Svenson.  Of course, the biggest landmark for me was finally, after umpteen years, publishing my first novel, The After School Murders.  Sales for my book are finally starting to move, and I love it when people say, "I can't wait to read it!"  Still Rick and I are far from reaching many of the goals we've set for ourselves.  We struggle as so many do to stay afloat and keep moving ahead.  But we are encouraged as opportunities continue to present themselves.

Rick and I are fortunate in that this is always a busy and very enjoyable party season--and sometimes it even brings work. But as the holidays approach I am especially aware of those who are not enjoying good health or have lost loved ones this year.  I just heard of a friend, a fellow performer, who is fighting for his livelihood and his first love after suffering a stroke and losing the use of a hand; his beloved pet died shortly after he sustained the stroke. Another friend had to cancel her annual Christmas party because her elderly husband is very ill.  My sister Wanda has been in and out of the hospital with problems the doctors aren't quite able to deal with.  Another friend lost his mother right around the Thanksgiving holiday.  I am glad to be able to reach out and offer comfort to them and to pray that God in his love and mercy will lift them up.

Because this is a season of remembering great miracles, let us all turn to God for help in our present circumstances, whatever they may be; and let us also pray for others in pain and in need.  God is love personified, and he is greater than all our human frailties and limitations.  In Messiah Y'shua (Jesus) our creator has provided for all that we need, and we only need to reach out to him in faith.  Of course, it is best to give him everything in our lives--our successes, our failures, our shortcomings--and to give him full sway in all that concerns us.  His love toward us is great, and to trust in his love is a wonderful thing.

My prayer for you, and all of those who have connected with me online, is that God will bring you the miracles you need in your life now and in the year ahead.  That he will open your eyes to see the doors that lead to his blessings and to give you understanding when he closes doors to the things not beneficial.

All of God's best to you at this season and in the coming year!

www.evansandrogers.com

Duty Called -- Had to Answer

   Life often deals a strange hand.  We don't always know what is going on until things play out.

   Some of my plans this past week have interrupted the flow of my life as an author and I have had to rise to a rather unpleasant occasion that, if it goes the direction it is likely to, it will just take up more time for no good reason. Thus the lateness of this blog.

   But on to more pleasant things.  This week a wonderful video was posted on Facebook by an old friend from high school.  Just recently I saw her for the first time in years at our high school reunion.  Then when she posted the video and said it was by her cousins, I discovered that her cousins are also mine because the music was by my cousin's family up on Lancaster.  Yes, life is pleasantly peculiar.

   My new book, The After School Murders, is finally beginning to sell, and I am very pleased.  Not only am I looking forward to a serious career as an author, I am looking for people with whom I can really share my imaginary world with in a more detailed fashion.  When an old friend read an earlier version of the trilogy (it was one book then) she used to call me up and ask all kinds of questions which I was delighted to answer.  She, too, fell in love with my characters and wanted to know more about them.  That's what I want, only multiplied.  I've written something that can be a happy escape to which readers will return again and again.

   But I do have ideas for other books apart from The War This Side of Heaven series.  One idea I am toying with would be a non-fiction book designed to help writers and other creative types with their blockage of creativity.  I never get writer's block and I know why.  If this is something you'd be interested in reading about, please let me know.  

   The other idea I'm kicking around is a Gothic romance novel set in California just after the turn of the last century or in the 1920's.  Lots of fun and scandalous history here in politics and entertainment, and lots of historians whose brains I can pick, not to mention the people who are old enough to remember some of those days and/or knew the people.  One friend of mine started his film career in silent films!  Another has worked at Paramount Studios since 1928.  It's nice to know people who know where the bodies are buried.  Would you like to read such a story?

   Well, duty yet demands my attention and I must comply . . . or must I?