Typing THE END of Night Bird Calling began a journey into the past for me.  With those words I realized I’d not finished with the characters or their deeper stories.

What history brought them to this moment in time with the prejudices, personalities and concerns they carried?  What was the antebellum racial and Civil War history of No Creek and its longtime citizens?  What happened to the characters of Night Bird Calling after WWII?  What happened to Reverend Willard, who enlisted in WWII as a chaplain? Did Marshall finish school—was he drafted?  Did he ever become the doctor he dreamed of becoming?  What about Celia—what was it like for her growing up as a teen in No Creek during WWII?  Did Lilliana find a life with Reverend Willard?

So many questions.  As I began researching—the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, and life in the post-WWII era—I knew there was far more to the story, a new story, a standalone story that I longed to tell.

That’s when I began writing A Hundred Crickets Singing with characters from No Creek, as well as new characters from the outside world.  I learned we can’t truly understand the revelations of the present without delving into mysteries of the past.  It was a realization that led me to write stories of characters from the Civil War and Reconstruction eras—ancestors of No Creek characters we’ve already come to love.

That story is in the process of editing and cover design now—my second time split novel.  My first time split novel was Secrets She Kept—a story so real to me that it practically wrote itself.  I hope readers will love this new book just as much.  Set to release in April 2022, I can hardly wait to share it with you!

Until then, I hope you’ll sign up for my newsletter and receive my free short story gift, “Into the Starry Night”—a prequel to Night Bird Calling.  I hope you’ll read Night Bird Calling and come to love Celia, Lilliana and so many others as I do.

Until next time, take care, enjoy these glorious days of summer, and may God bless you,

Cathy

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