Ever Lose a Novel? It's a Real Kick in the Gut.

In an earlier post I gave a tease about "A Heart to Understand," which features a half-Navajo, half-White young man who believes he is a witch and understands how to open the gates to the Holy People and receive new gifts for the Navajo.

That book is now with Stan Hattaway, who has a design company in Phoenix, and used to work here in Kansas City, where I was once one of his clients. Stan is remarkably gifted and has a sense of color that is amazing. I'm looking forward to the cover design he comes up with. This is a tough one. "A Heart to Understand" is a suspense/thriller and was one of what I hoped would be a series of books centered around the same protagonist, Philip McGuire, a burn-out foreign correspondent who after being captured by the Hezbollah and then released decides to throw in the towel and return to his college town to own and run a bar.

I had written the prequel, "Heal My Heart So I May Cry" but thought "A Heart to Understand" was the stronger of the two and with the strong Navajo presence easier to market. (In my humble opinion, I think it contains one of the best retellings in a work of fiction the Navajo creation story.)

With "Understand" wonderfully edited by Joan LeMonte, it was time to turn my attention to "Heal."

Gulp. Couldn't find it on my computer or backup systems. Not to worry. I make hard copies of everything. Gulp. Found copies of everything else, but not "Heal". Not that many places to look, and I tore through every possible storage space. Nada. There is a vast sinking of the heart when you realize something you worked on over many years is now gone. No way to reconstruct it. So much for the series. Sorry, Philip McGuire, guess you'll probably only have one existence.

Then I came across a hard drive I had forgotten about: one of those external hard drives that required its own power supply. Plugged it in, and there was "Heal". Started the printer and got words on reliable paper in my hands. Reedited it and Katy Sozaeva, who has edited works for me before, was available, and she has done a masterful job.

So I'll have the prequel ready for its cover design after we see the look that Stan comes up with for "Understand." Maybe it's time to start searching around for another title with the word "Heart" in it. I rather like ole Philip McGuire; wonder how he's been doing?