My Friend Janet

Looks like I’m not going to be an every day blogger, though I have good intentions. I think about things, but I’m not sure the world in general needs to know them. Most of what I have to say will eventually find its way into my fiction through the mouths of my characters.

But today I’m mourning the death of my friend Janet Edgar. A fellow writer for Steeple Hill Love Inspired, her first book will release posthumously in December of 2006. She died of ovarian cancer yesterday morning after having “beaten” it once, and then being struck again. It makes my heart hurt that she didn’t get to see her book in print. But she’s in heaven enjoying much greater privileges. I have to believe that.

Janet was a lovely woman who encouraged other writers—admiring those who’d already published, ecstatically wearing the thrill of a first sale, and cheering on those still struggling to reach that milestone. She had a beautiful engaging smile and a contagious joy in lovely clothes and shoes—which seems silly when you write it down, but that kind of simple pleasure is fun to watch. She always wanted to do things right, a work ethic that challenged me personally.

I will miss her so much.