I 

Wrote 

My

First

Novel

When I Was Eight...

The heroine's name was Victoria. She had a trusty sidekick, whose name I forget, as Victoria stole everyone's spotlight. A diva, a delicate morsel of a girl, full of wit and loved by all. 

Page after page of Victoria's grand and epic, perfectly perfect life.

You may have forgotten, but Victoria was the number one bestseller of a childhood fantasy. 

Mine. 

I kept the notebook pages in a doll suitcase with a heart shaped lock, the key taped to the underbelly of the right hand drawer in my secondhand desk. 

I cannot recall the day I stopped writing or the exact day I pushed the case into the furthermost corner of my closet. I do not know the precise moment Victoria went missing, but my best guess is just about the time I had to move from HERE to THERE. 

It happens to everyone. 

If they are honest. 

If they are true. 

Trustworthy about their past. 

One day HERE and the next day THERE. 

I cannot say that I missed her. Or even thought much about her.

I just plain forgot.

I simply grew up and packed away my childish ways.

Until one day, Victoria popped in like a long lost friend, sat down beside me, crossed her arms over her chest, looked me straight in the eye and said...

" Well, where have YOU been?"

I stared right back with equal pomposity and in my grown up voice, replied...

"That's not the problem, smart ass. I know where I've BEEN, and right now i am terribly busy trying to get a fix on where I am GOING. "

"I no longer have time to play."

Victoria smiled back at me sweetly, clad in her delicate and diva demeanor...and in a voice uncannily like my own...shouted...

"Why not start right where you ARE?"

So I did. 

Victoria can be very convincing. 

She scares me. 

Chapter Two...The Yard Yetis-A Gardeners Tale...

just a click away