Blog Post #1

When I first started writing, I was fortunate to meet an agent at the Pacific NW Writers’ Conference who agreed to represent my first novel. Since then, I’ve had five other novels published, but my agent has switched to representing screenwriters. I’m now in the position of having to secure new representation for my seventh novel, VOWS OF SECRECY, and I’m finding the process quite daunting. The publishing world has gone through a lot of changes since the 1990s and securing an agent is more difficult than ever before. I’ve lost count of the number of query letters I’ve sent out trying to entice an agent to at least read the manuscript. So far, no luck. But I don’t write because it is easy. I write because something inside of me refuses to be silent. So I will keep writing and sending out queries to agents because I believe that it just takes one person to champion my story—I just haven’t connected with her or him yet.

The idea for what would become VOWS OF SECRECY was inspired by a mystery event that I created for the residents of University Village in Vancouver, Washington. I started with one of the characters in the play and the rest of the story took off from there. The emotional core of the story was based upon my experience as an adoptive mother of three daughters. I've experienced both the joys of adoption and the deep human need to know one's origins, especially when difficult to uncover. The novel explores themes of identity, family loyalty, and the corrosive nature of secrets.

Although VOWS OF SECRECY is fictional, its roots lie in real issues—and the belief that the truth, even when complicated matters.

Approximately 100,000 children are adopted legally in the United States each year, most going into homes where they are raised with profound love and support. Agencies like the one in VOWS OF SECRCEY—-operating through forged records, coerced consents, and secretive placements—are extraordinarily rare today. Such practices largely ended after the scandal of Georgia Tann, who from the 1920s to the 1950s ran a corrupt adoption network through the Tennessee Children's Home Society, trafficking thousands of children. Public outrage over her crimes led to sweeping reforms in adoption law and greater protections for adoptees and their families.

Stay tuned for more updates on my journey to publication.

If you’ve been impacted by adoption in some way—either as an adoptee , an adoptive parent, or a biological mother who relinquished her child, I would be honored to learn your thoughts about the experience. Other comments are welcome as well.