AN URGENT WRITING TASK FOR ME—AND YOU CAN HELP!

Moving (twice! in fact) has occupied Lucy and me for five months nonstop. But in the past two weeks, we've ended the forced march of moving chores. We've freed up enough time that we can get on with life tasks. In my case in this decade, that’s writing.

I’ve fired up the computer. And what writing project am I onto? In Growing Green Two Ways! (GG2W! for short) I promised a sequel. In the past two weeks, I've been able to open Microsoft Word and find the file containing the draft of the sequel.

I wrote the draft in 2012 and 2013. Since then, I switched computers and lost the file in the process! Oh, the woes of being a writer! But I found the missing file with the help of a friend. Now the task is to hone it, add some new wording and cut some old. In short, I’ll work to make it a better book! That’s the priority project for the next few months.

“Book Two,” as I’m calling it for now, will be different than GG2W! First, the story of my broken and repaired courtship with a wonderful woman named Lucille begins and ends the book. In between, the travel portion will include my adventures in Western Europe, West Africa, New York City and Seattle from September 1960 to July 1962.

So here’s where you come in. What do you want to read in a book that bounces from London and Paris through Berlin, Switzerland and Bordeaux, then on to Dakar, Freetown, hinterland Sierra Leone, Liberia, Manhattan and back to Seattle? Remember, those were the years of post-World War II in Western Europe and of independence battles and struggles in West Africa. Berlin was a divided city. The Republic of Guinea was tabbed the Soviet Union’s first satellite state in Africa.

In each place I visited I was fortunate to have local guides. Some were experienced missionaries while others were native-born. 

Please e-mail me or leave a comment if you have suggestions. That’s my invitation and request to you!

And now, a Happy Mother’s Day to you. It’s a day we can all celebrate. I celebrate that my mother supported my travel even while she feared what might happen to me while I would be up to 6,000 miles away. I thank her for supporting my life-changing adventure of learning.

P.S. I cannot find a date for Mother’s Day in Nigeria. It could be this weekend. In any case, let our concerns go out to 300 mothers whose daughters are kidnapped in Northern Nigeria and our prayers rise to God that the girls will be returned or rescued.