So where is Poughkeepsie Anyway?

Poughkeepsie started as a one shot. Just put online to hold the story's place in my mind. After reviewers requested more; I added to it.


So I sat and figured out how I wanted the story to end, and commenced writing from there. It is titled "Poughkeepsie" because it was simply the most interesting word in the first chapter. I had no idea I was writing a book, even more clueless that I was writing a long one. I finished Poughkeepsie and left the story online for about two months.


 One day I received information from a friend that my story was being translated. I found the web site and requested that it be removed because it was done without my permission. I had copyrighted the words of my story, with all the Twilight names changed here in America, so I felt that my simple request would be honored. Suffice it to say, it wasn't.


 I went back to my story and peeked at the traffic, it had dwindled since the close of the story tremendously. I proceeded to pull Poughkeepsie on the off chance that the people who stole my story had not thought to copy all the chapters.

 Now,  with the story down, I had some thinking to do. I never dreamed I would write. I don't do it for a living, I never dabbled in it at all. I am a mom and a substitute teacher. I have my degree in Political Science. My only plans for my career included getting my Masters in teaching. I still love teaching and enjoy it immensely.


But now I have a story whose entire message was one I was proud of, a story about women loving fiercely. The brothers who were they only family each other had touched me. So now I am daring to dream that I could one  day see it in print. Honestly, I had to come to terms with spending so much time an effort on something that made my family no money at all. Writing on the internet is a demanding past time to have, and I don't regret it.

I have had probably 99.9% of readers tell me to go for it, to try and publish this story. There are a few that say it shouldn't be done and although I beg to differ, I respect that opinion.

Publishing, trying to publish Poughkeepsie is just for me and the characters I created. I want to let my characters breath and stand tall between the pages of a cover. I want the women that stand in front the  men they love to know that they are not alone when they love not for money, lust or presents, but for heart and commitment to feel justified. When you love simply and basically there are rewards.


When I think of certain chapters I wrote to honor the people I love, like Murphy's Oil, I want to get to hand a copy of the book to my mother in law and flip it open and say "This here? This is how I see you."

When I wrote the wedding scenes? I wrote my wedding down. The crying? The vows? That chapter sums up my love for my husband.

When my heroine stands in front of a gun, when she does CPR, when she prays from somewhere deep inside her? I pulled that from my mother's heart, the place where I keep my love for my kids. I want to point to it when they are older and say "See this here? That's what I feel for you. I love you so much my heart is yours forever, long after I leave this world, my love for you will remain."

The Dad character? That's my own father who would do anything for his girls. The girls friendships? My sister, my mother.

So it's not just a story to me. It is, of course, a fiction. But to see it in print? Wow. All this stuff I keep in my heart would belong to more than just me.

Poughkeepsie is in the final stages of editing. I have racked through it so many times. Then I will send out query letters to agents, publishers. If I get no takers, I will print if myself online. The information for getting a copy of Poughkeepsie will be on this site.