The Contestant

Hello from sunny, warm California!

ROBIN has been bouncing around in the Amazon numbers between #32 and #45 in the Kindle Store. I hope she is keeping people entertained in the freezing East and Heartland.

To pick up from yesterday. I wrote the Prologue (Robin's secret birth) and Chapter One (Robin and Simon chase each other around the Chancellor's treasure room) as a contest piece. I can't remember all the contests I entered, maybe four. I know ROBIN finalled in every contest entered and took 1st place in the "Great Expectations" and "Gotcha" contests.

I was ready to stop the story at that point, having proved to myself I could take a 1st place. But my RWA writing pals were so encouraging, I kept spinning it out. Writing the witty banter and painting the colorful scenes was great fun.

In the Spring of 2003 I was taking a walk with a friend when my husband pulled his car around the corner and halted in the middle of the street. His next sentence heralded a complete change in my life.

He said, "Your Dad is in the hospital. He's had a stroke."

During the course of the next several months, writing PRINCESS ROBIN would be my saving grace, my secret escape into a fantasy world so much happier than real life.

To be continued...

Dana