A Gift from Far Away

This afternoon I received a package in the mail. Yay! Who doesn't love to get a package in the mail, especially when it's an anticipated birthday gift from a far away (but still near and dear) friend?

What was in the package? I'll tell you, but first, lemme give you some back story.

The first middle grade novel I wrote was about a dragon. I worked long and hard on this much loved (by me, anyway) manuscript. It being my first novel, the initial draft was terrible, but I learned a lot while writing it. I rewrote and revised and got it into decent shape. I had a critique group that helped me along the way.

Then I sent it to my friend Angie. She read it, and read it to her kids. She gave me lots of great feedback and her kids drew illustrations for each chapter. It was super cool to see how those kiddos interpreted the different scenes in my book--what a treat!

I don't know if that dragon book, titled Glint: The Dragon of Fire Mountain, will ever get published. But writing it helped me grow and develop as a writer. I think I will always have a special place in my writerly heart for dragons because of that book.

Skip to this week when I mentioned to Angie the birthday gift I had received from my hubby. He gave me a wax sealing kit, so that I could add nifty, old-fashioned touches to hand-written letters, cards, etc.

When Angie informed me later that day that she had sent me a gift, I thought she probably sent something to go along with hubby's gift. Maybe some stationary or another wax seal stamp--an "R" maybe?

Well, I wasn't that far off. She DID sent me a wax seal stamp. But it wasn't an "R."

It was a dragon!

Thank you, Angie. You rock!