July 4th is always a nostalgic day for me. Of course, it’s a national holiday but it goes much deeper than that. Although 2020 has ushered in a different type of aura around the 4th of July than we all expected, I’m still grateful for the celebration. Nine years ago today, I launched this very website that you’re reading from right now. The website came just months before the launch of my first poetry book, Blurred Vision, in 2011.

In the beginning, my site started out as a fun hobby to try for a couple of months. Soon, I started blogging and sharing my thoughts on various topics including life lessons, music, drinks, publishing, and of course, poetry. While I’ve never had thoughts of shutting down my website, I did originally plan to switch my publishing company, 7th Sign Publishing, to a consulting only business after it reached its seven-year anniversary in April. However, God had other plans. 7th Sign is now preparing to release three new books before the end of the year, including a real estate how-to guide, a children’s book about breast cancer, and a Christian devotional.

My site wouldn’t have ever been created without my love for poetry. More importantly, I could not have made it this long without you – my readers. While everyone is hopefully enjoying a socially distanced but enjoyable holiday, I simply want to say thank you. Your reading, shares, dialogue, support, and words of encouragement mean more than you know. As a gift to you, all of my poetry books are on sale now through July 11th for only $9 (including free shipping).

Oh, and for those of you who have asked what happened to Mike’s character in the Fortune Cookie novel series (which included Fortune Cookie, No Cream in the Middle, and When the Cookie Crumbles) – your answer is coming very soon. Look out for my first novella, A Swipe in the Wrong Direction. The book is a spin-off from the novel series and details Mike’s unfortunate sequence of events after his friends set him up on an online dating site.