If writing a novel is a tree, then this is the story of trees.

Before the millennium, I gazed at other people's orchards with contentment. I spent hours strolling through the foliage, imbibing the intoxicating scent of redwood, deciphering the spidery secrets of the cut-leaf Japanese maple, devouring the ambrosial nectar of honeysuckle. The shady respite altered the way I pondered and escaped the everyday crush. Inspired and alive, I loved my favorite pastime. But, as time advanced, it no longer fulfilled me. I wanted my own orchard. I wanted to propagate...emulate and emancipate.

So I labored. I tilled the earth, and I carefully cut and planned the beds.

Finally, I sowed the seeds.

Since then, I've nurtured, watered, pruned, fertilized, and weeded.

You say you can't see the forest for the trees?

Don't worry.

It's a series. It's virtually impossible to lose your way because there is no beginning or end, just minor character reprises.

Diane L. Kowalyshyn—
daughter, wife, mother, friend, student*, high-stakes adventure** storyteller - blessed in ways too numerous to mention.
 
* completing a Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University
** high-stakes adventure is romantic suspense—all or nothing action, intrigue, intimacy and humor