This novel took me 15 years to write. Well, not exactly, but…
Even though Dead Man’s Hand was my first published novel, it’s not the first book I wrote. Kiss & Tell is my “baby”. It’s the first book I ever even attempted to write. I started writing the novel in the winter of 2000, while playing hockey down in Oklahoma.
A lot of circumstances surround this novel, and it’s the reason I started writing in the first place. This novel, and all of my writing, happened by “chance”. I was playing professional hockey in Oklahoma, and was struck in the eye with a stick in a preseason game. That injury ended my season before it began.
My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, was attending a French college in Montreal, and her English professor assigned the class the task of writing a short story.
My girlfriend knew that I was an avid reader, so she asked me if I would help her develop the story, which I did. I had so much fun with the project, that when we had finished, I took one of the characters we had created and started writing my own story.
I wrote Kiss & Tell in six months, but it was nowhere even close to being publishable. Actually, it stunk. It was a practice story for me, so I left it sitting in my computer, and started writing a second book.
After I published Dead Man’s Hand in 2012, I decided to reopen Kiss & Tell and take another look. My first reaction…it was bad, written by a first-time, newbie, amateur author. But I loved the plot, cast of characters, and the potential. I didn’t want to give up on this story.
So I took everything I’d learned about the craft of writing and the industry and put it into editing Kiss & Tell. The revisions completely changed the entire book.
After I’d completed it in 2001, Kiss & Tell was written from the point of view of Jessica Philips, the primary murder suspect in the Ken Anderson investigation, and the story was told from Jessica’s first person POV.
The Kiss & Tell that came out in 2015 is told from Detective Charlene Taylor’s point of view, written in third person. Although the plot never changed, some of the characters and scenes did.
A major scene/twist change that occurred?
In the original Kiss & Tell, the identity of the Celebrity Slayer was never revealed. I was planning on turning this CS plot into a series, extending the investigation through a number of books. But, taking into consideration a suggestion from one of my editors, I decided to change that. But don’t think I don’t have more plans for the Celebrity Slayer, in upcoming Charlene Taylor books.
But that’s for another time, and another place.
Buy the book here: http://myBook.to/Kiss ![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00072]](https://therisingmuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/kisstell-front-500.jpg?w=200&h=300)
February, but it’s sitting there waiting for a second review. I’ll get to it…lol. God has been pressing in my heart some things. I had been entrusted with a ministry back in 2013 and just like newborn babies; they require more attention than grown up children. As a new “mom” I was trying to figure out what to do. God never calls the equipped but equips the called and let’s say that boot camp is his form of training. I say this to say that although I was tending to this baby ministry in autopilot for the last year, now that I had the opportunity to give it some time and dedication, it became my priority.
Right now I’m living out of boxes still trying to decide what to keep and what needs to go. It’s going to be a journey. But I think of you, my readers, a lot. I miss interacting with you and letting you know about all the things that I’m learning about how to live this life that has chosen us with Christ. So forgive my selfishness.
In Romans 12: 14-16 we get a lesson on how to be with others regardless of how they treat us.
like a chant, but in the actual day to day is a different story. Be honest with yourself, how loving and blissful are you in your commute? How forgiving with that parent that yelled at your kid at the game.
Believe it, at the end of the day, you will learn that you are more blessed by them than whatever you were able to do for them.
We are no looking at:
peace to get the job done. Remember, he never sends out to the field the equipped, but equips the chosen ones.
The tricky part about love and honor is that it’s not just for those who we like. Being devoted to love those who are mean to us is no easy task. But this is something we really need to get serious about, after all is our second commandment right up there with loving God above all else. 
When that love is not possible, it means that we don’t understand the love of God. Its at this time that we need to have Him show us his love and show us how to love others. 
leader, the elder, the minister, the main person? Honestly we were not all created for every job. Yes, some positions have more exposure than others, but it doesn’t make it more meaningful. In their immaturity people want to be in the center of a stage or the center of attention and those who are not place there by God will not thrive. 
On the opposite side of the spectrum, yes I have the opportunity to speak in front of people. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but I know I do it well and its part of my mission. Now, if you ever catch me with a microphone ready to sing, you all have open permission to knock me out of the stage before your ears start bleeding. Both the worship leader and I are in front of people, but we both have very different roles. At the same time, if the person behind the sound system is not there in their gifting, it doesn’t matter because nobody is going to hear us. 
ho was free from sin to cast the first stone? Wasn’t Jesus who said to the woman at the well that she was forgiven even though she had been promiscuous? So who are we to judge?
remember that we are administrators and not lords. We need to recognize that we each have a place on a mission that was specifically designed for us. In other words, in the eyes of God the CEO and the janitor are equal… and sometimes the janitor gets extra points for doing his work for God.
In my conversation with the Lord I was telling him that apparently I was feeling lonely. I say apparently because I didn’t recognize it until without thinking I told someone that I was carrying my burdens alone. I was also telling the Lord about something that I need, but not sure how to go about it. I said that maybe I shouldn’t push forward and settle for something less in the meantime because maybe I’m not ready for the actual blessing I’m praying for.
God.
