The Dawnflier, June 2014

This month's edition of The Dawnflier is dedicated to my daughter Jessica, shown pictured on 5/30/14 at the pre-graduation dinner her dad & I hosted in her honor. She graduated as one of five valedictorians (yes, there was a 5-way tie! but the other 4 were boys :) in her high school’s Class of 2014, with a 4.4 GPA, 11 varsity letters in three sports over the course of four years (indoor track, outdoor track, and softball), and outstanding scores on all the Advanced Placement (college level) courses she took, including a 5 out of 5 on the AP Calculus exam!

Proud, me? Aw, c’mon, how could you tell??

Jessica plans to attend Coastal Carolina University, where she will major in Marine Science with a concentration in marine mammals and coral reef ecology & conservation. The photograph pictured on her cake represents the day, at age 10, when she decided to become a marine scientist! She & I were visiting Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and I had arranged for us to be “dolphin trainers for a day”—an exclusive all-day excursion where we learned about dolphin physiology, social interaction, and training. I was hooked by the unique experience...and little did I realize then how much she had been hooked too.

She also is a talented artist. Earlier this year she won Silver Key designation in the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition for her white-charcoal drawing titled “Reality.” Much more recently, I commissioned her to draw the interior art for my latest novel. Stay tuned to this blog for the unveiling of the book’s title & cover, as well as samples of her art for the project, on June 4th!

This wouldn’t be a true issue of The Dawnflier if I didn’t mention the winner of my monthly contest for an ebook copy of Dawnflight. Please join me in congratulating Jane, who already has been notified! She is the first winner of a copy featuring the gorgeous new cover design, and I am happy to report that the updated print edition is now available for sale too.

As always, you may enter my monthly drawing by:
—Adding me on Google+
—Commenting upon this or any of the posts on this blog
—Subscribing to my YouTube channel
Each action is good for one chance to win, and each blog post comment is a separate entry. I use the web site random.org to pick one winner each month based upon the total number of entries. Don't delay; enter today!

Thank you for your interest in my work.

Sgeulachd ni sinn na's mò. ~ Stories make us greater.