It’s about dragons, and it’s for my girl Dee, who was a bridesmaid in my wedding. She’s crazy about dragon stories, and she listened to my plot ideas for this one when we were sophmores in high school, back when the story was just a baby.

On Fridays, we’d hang out after school, play a little tennis (we were both pretty bad, but Dee wanted to try out for the school team and I was willing to help her practice), and I remember one time when we just sat out on the dock over the school pond (which had an alligator in it — this was Louisiana, after all) and talked about our stories. I told her about this one and she told me about one of hers, where a girl is part dragon and goes to find her destiny. It was a really sweet story — I read it and offered a critique and urged her to do more to it and get it published. But she didn’t want to try to get it published. I still want her to, of course. She’s a sweet girl, and she has an incredible imagination. She’s smart, too. It’s so cool how the nicest girls seem to do the best in school. Dee got this really great Martin Luther King scholarship (which I heard about at our graduation – I was so excited for her!), and Bethanie and Sarah at Harding tied for top senior English major. And all three of these girls are the softest, sweetest, nicest creatures you could ever meet.

Anyway, back to Dee. I’d decided to dedicate it to her before it was even finished. I just thought, “It has dragons, so it’s for Dee.” And that was that. I mean, my family is nice and all, but they won’t care which book I dedicate to them. And Dee likes dragons a whole lot more than they do. So it’s hers.

Speaking of dragon stories, here’s a few I’d recommend:

• Dragon’s Bait by Vande Velde
• Dealing with Dragons by Wrede
• Searching for Dragons by Wrede
• Calling on Dragons by Wrede
• Talking to Dragons by Wrede
• Dragonsong by McCaffrey
• Dragonsinger by McCaffrey
• Dragondrums by McCaffrey

Just in case you were wondering, “Okay, what is your novel and when is it coming out?” It’s written, but I have some major revising to take care of before I try to find a publisher. It may take a year or two to get it published, since it’s my first attempt (and everyone is wary with new writers). I’ll keep you informed on how the revisions are coming and, later, on finding a publisher.