Dream Home or Writing and Life over the Years

     I'm entering the HGTV Dream Home contest every day. And why not? It's true that I don't believe in gambling. I firmly believe that, when possible, we should work for the money we get because the value to self of doing the work is worth as much as, if not more than, the value of the money.
     But this dream home is in St. Simon's Island, Georgia! I live in Georgia. And I wrote a whole romance novel once--and even found an agent to read it--all because I dreamed of a home on the next island, Jekyl, for our family. I'm from the Midwest, so I've been awed by and in love with the ocean since I got here in 1968.
     I've also dreamed of being published as a writer. My successes at that have been minor. But back then, in the early 80s, I decided that being a success as a romance writer could get us that ocean-side house. I had a plot and characters in mind already, so I read a bunch of romance novels and went to work. The agent said it didn't quite fit the genre since it was set in 1948 and the hero was paralyzed. So it was a no go.
     Since that time, I've completed a career as an English professor, learned a bit about editing and publishing, gotten a few poems published, and completed the second draft of a memoir. I got closer to my ocean-side house by helping one of my sons and his wife as they purchased a house near the coast in Panama City Beach. I have a novel started that I will work on in earnest once the memoir is completed.
​     But it sure wouldn't hurt if I won that beautiful waterside house in St. Simon's, Georgia.

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