Willow Bend: Hearts Are Being Mended, is the second book of my series, about how lives changed when the Civil War ended. The small village of Willow Bend is the home of several unique characters. Some are very loving and kind and others are humorous, and a few have anger that they need to let go of. I try to keep a balance of suspense, romance, humor and heart-warming scenes in this series. I've been very pleased to hear that some of my readers are men, who tell me that they really enjoyed my first book and are waiting for this one. One of the characters in my first book, Isaac, has a bigger part in this book because I created this character from a young boy in my neighborhood who was a dear friend of mine. He passed away a few months ago and I have dedicated this book to him. I think about these characters constantly and keep trying to improve my writing to make them more interesting. I created Franklin, whose face was burned and scarred when a civil war cannon exploded while he was attempting to light it. He turned out to be one of my readers favorite characters. I served in the Air Force about a hundred years ago, 1963-1967, so I've always had a heart for soldiers. I've been told that Sarah is a lot like me. It wasn't intentional, but it just might be true. When I start writing, my fingers are flying over the keyboard and I'm not thinking about anything except getting the words from my thoughts to the computer.