I have just learned that Earnest Bywater has passed away. For close to 20 years, we have been as close as two people could be to have never seen each other. We worked together writing Shiloh, which was my first published book.
When I was in an explosion at a job site in 2006, he encouraged me to not surrender to the pain and anguish of not being able to walk normally for several years and cried with me over my divorce after 47 years of marriage. He was proud of my fighting through everything to complete my last book, Winds of Change. He has functioned as my Publisher and since I have ended up in a nursing home, he has strongly encouraged me to re-write my first book, (Ashes to Ashes), as well as the sequel to Hawk and the Chipmunk. When they are finally finished, I will dedicate both of them to his memory.