WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION In 1955, mixed-race Ethan Harper leaves his progressive hometown for a summer in Alabama where he's not welcome, except by resident free spirit, Juniper Jones. ***** After getting himself into a bout of trouble, 16-year-old Ethan Harper's parents send him to Ellison, Alabama, to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. But the year is 1955, and Alabama is a far cry from his beloved home of Arcadia, Washington. As much as it's hotter in temperature, it's colder in every other way, and Ethan learns the hard way that people see his mere existence as a threat. Amidst all the mayhem, a fiery, free-spirited, oddball walks into Ethan's life. Her name is Juniper Jones. She is the first person in Ellison who seems unfazed by their racial differences, and she promises to give Ethan a summer he will always remember, filled with endless adventure and discovery. With Juniper, Ethan can breathe, he can be, despite the incessant attention and bullying their newly formed friendship attracts. Can the two survive the summer, run in the light and block out the noise of the outside world? [Published version comes out June 16, 2020 with Wattpad Books!] [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

With power there come words. And with words there comes music. And with music there comes joy. And that's why I write poetry.

Rylyn Delson's life has been pretty predictable for the past eight years after her mother's death. She's gotten used to her dad being "clingy". But when life takes a turn for the unexpected, Rylyn has to face the reality of the world alone, with no one who understands. God understands, doesn't He? What good is He planning to come out of this anyway? Meanwhile David Ark and his wife, Mirissa, are just a Christian couple adjusting to their new lives in the town of Riverside. Getting to know the teens firsthand as a Youth Minister, he discovers the shy, only child girl with a hard past. Soon after gravitating toward her, tragedy strikes her hard. When they take her in, both of them go through hard times themselves. But God's ways are higher than our's, right? Told from the two perspectives that resemble a father-daughter relationship, they not only discover hidden truths of the struggles but also try to learn to take on unwavering faith. {Started: September 2014 Finished: February 2015} (Picture credit to legit-faith.com)

This is the first installation to a series of poems intended to partner Coming. They tell the story of one trying to reach someone else. There is evasion, fear, the end is elusive, the journey great, the relief steep. But at the end of every tale is the Happily Ever After... isn't there?