How did I end up writing The Son of El Morro?

Well, it’s really a silly story. But when I was in high school, I had this idea of writing about a man struggling with his identity and shame. At the time, I was inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, the Count of Monte Cristo, and the Mask of Zorro? It’s hard to remember, honestly.

I typed into my Google search bar: Are there any castles in the Caribbean?

And the Castillo San Felipe del Morro came up. I was instantly mesmerized. I mean if you look at it yourself, you’ll see why. It’s massive. Construction began in 1539 and wasn’t completed until the 1790s!

Years later, when I began homeschooling my children, we got an overview of the Age of Exploration and learned about the famous Spanish explorers. Of course, there is so much about that time period I still don’t know about, and so much of it involved the tragedy of slavery. But learning history alongside my children re-ignited my interest in finishing the novel I began in my teens.

Over the years, I would “dust off” the old file, do some work on it, and then put it away again. The historical research continued to be a daunting task for me, and one that remained difficult since many primary sources are written in Spanish. My novel was first set in the late 1500s. But then I realized that the fortress was tiny then, and the population sparse. It didn’t quite fit the story I wanted to tell. So after more digging, I landed on the year 1675. Nothing significant happened that year in terms of acts of war or pirate threats, but it definitely is a year in which something could have happened. By the mid 1600s, the fortress was well established, the army was growing, and the competing nations were beginning to see San Juan as an intimidating place to attempt a siege. But it was still possible. It seemed that year was the best possible year to imagine the story inside me with the setting playing a crucial part of the plot. By 1898, after the Spanish-American War, the fortress became a base for America. It even served as an active military base for the U.S. during both World Wars.

There is so much fascinating history surrounding this fortress that it was easy to imagine a historical fiction story with this fortress as the central setting. You can read more about it here.

Another reason this setting and time period became such a fascination for me was that I longed to travel. I enjoyed learning about different places and cultures, and my interest exploded. I didn’t want to “what what you know” because what I knew was boring. Writing about something I didn’t know about was interesting, exciting even. And I know that what I do know has been infused into my writing, and what I didn’t know, I learned about. That popular advice has always bothered me. I think it should be: write what interests you — write what you’re passionate about. It’s been enough for me. It’s how I’ve traveled, without having to travel.

As I work to grow my readership, I wanted to offer a sample. I’m still deciding what exactly to offer. Perhaps a section of the prequel? Or maybe just the first two chapters so you can meet the main characters? I would love to find a way to let you get acquainted with my writing somehow. If you have a suggestion or desire to read something specific, comment and let me know.

Thank you for visiting, for reading, for staying curious and interested.

I dreamt I lost my teeth.

Well, here we are. I’m back to blogging. I forgot how much I used to spend my time typing out random thoughts and musings in blog format back when blogging was cool. Is it still cool? After the writing conference and hearing how important it is to build my platform while I’m trying to get my book published, I’ve decided I should take up blogging again. I should, right? And when I worked on my book proposal, I remembered to add my years of blogging for my local City Moms Blog. It’s been a while though. I feel rusty.

Anyway, the other night I dreamt that several of my teeth were knocked out. If you know what happened to my oldest son at the end of March, you’ll know this is… well… it was a reality for him. My daughter burst through the door, rousing me from a catnap, shouting, “There’s blood everywhere, come quick, mom!”

…Yeah…

Long story short, he fell face-first into the concrete, HELMET hit the ground first (thank God he had a helmet on), but somehow - seriously the physics don’t make sense - his two front teeth were yanked almost all the way out, yet still attached with his braces. One tooth came all the way out, off the bracket, and had split into three pieces. The 4th tooth, on the other side of his two front teeth, also became quite displaced. It was a little gross. I mean… It was horrendous. Truly. Teeth out of place is something else. Like nails on a chalkboard.

The poor kid came through though. Our orthodontist pushed the teeth back into place. Yeah. Ouch. And so far, the teeth are healing. We’re not out of the woods yet, but so far so good.

I tell that story to provide some necessary context for the occasion of my dream. I could have been thinking/worrying about his teeth. I was also wearing my retainer that night (yes, I do forget frequently) and my own teeth were sore. So who knows why this dream occurred.

But I have had teeth dreams before. I remember them happening around the time we had a new baby, or when we moved, or when my husband switched careers. I think it’s a pretty well-known fact that when you dream about your teeth falling out, or being knocked out, it’s usually a sign of some kind of change happening in your life. A stresser perhaps. But a change. Maybe even a shift in identity.

And it tracks. I just took a major step. I invested a lot of money and time away from home to attend the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. We’ve enrolled all three of our kids into full-time schools after 10 years of homeschooling. I’m serious about launching an author career. And these are big transitions for my family. But we’re all excited. The kids are looking forward to school and taking a break from homeschooling. As am I. I’ve been a little burnt out by it, to be honest.

My teeth are fine. My son’s teeth are going to be fine - even if we have oral surgery in our future. Things are changing. And I don’t know what the future holds for the stories within me. But I’m showing up.

My new author website!

Well, hello friends! It is time to take my author career to the next level by setting up a website. I’m sure there will be a little bit of a learning curve for me. But I am excited to grow a readership and have a place where I can share the highs and lows of this journey I am on. Hopefully, 2026 is the year I land an agent!