Hello and thank you for taking time to visit my writing website! Writing has been a passion of mine for many years but only in the past couple of years have I had the opportunity to devote my time and attention to the craft. I am proud to say I have just completed my third novel, The Salix babylonica named Veronica and I am excited to be able to share it with you now!

When you spend time writing daily, it is easy to begin to feel as if you are a part of the story you are creating. In 2020, when the world seemed to be falling apart around us and we were only able to go to work and home again, I spent my free time writing Book One Old Bones, Old Bones: Rise and See. During that time, I “lived” in 1984 with Katie and her sisters on Keen Mountain and shared in their daily adventures. Each day I would look forward to the time I could write before or after work and I stayed up late at night having grand adventures with my characters. I grew so close to them that I grieved because I missed them so much when their story was finished. 

As a result, within a week of finishing the first novel, I began Book Two, Old Bones, Old Bones: Rise and Be Free – primarily so I could continue the story twenty years later with them. It took me a year to write that novel and it was published in 2021. As expected, I missed those characters when the story was over as well, but as it turned out, 2022 had more in store for me than writing as I left my home state of Virginia and embarked on a new and exciting journey in the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Over my first winter here, I was able to complete my most recent novel: The Salix babylonica named Veronica, a story about a weeping willow tree that I have wanted to write for many years. I adored spending my days with Veronica and the inhabitants of the enchanting, but often misunderstood, Hungry Forest where she lives. As with my other characters, I have grown very fond of Veronica and (in my mind at least) she now lives and breathes and I am beyond excited to finally be ready to send her out into the world where I hope she will be received with the same love and respect I felt while creating her. 

This story is particularly special to me as it deals with many issues faced by myself and loved ones including depression, being a single parent, being faced with an “empty nest” as well as the importance of concepts that are foreign to many mothers and fathers and caregivers: things like “self-care”, the journey of “rediscovering yourself” and what to do when you wake up and think your life is halfway over with.

Like Veronica, I too had to search for happiness in a place that I had nearly forgotten about… Thankfully, I found it, and I hope you will as well! 

Peace and Love to you my story-loving friends,

Mary K.