I'm Back! :D Julia's Journal is alive once more.

Hello, one and all!

I was delighted to find this new blog background on TheCutestBlogOnTheBlock.com and designed myself a header to go along! :) What do you think of the new look? It's not quite finished yet, I have many finishing touches to make...

There's a new About page to check out if you'd like. :)

I've grown tired of not being able to customize my Wordpress.com blog at all (besides a header and background image) and have made my peace with the new Blogger post-writing box. I've decided to write on this blog regularly for now, although I certainly enjoyed the Wordpress experiment and am grateful to have learned my way around there.

So, I thought I would share a few things that have been on my heart lately.

America has been in my prayers more than usual, due to the recent presidential election results. But I still have faith in my great big God and I trust in his perfect will, although we had several long conversations the day after November 6th. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about it all, because I could never handle it. HE can. And for that, I am beyond grateful.

Writing has taken up a good chunk of my free time lately, because I decided on October 31st to try NaNoWriMo for the first time (National Novel Writing Month) and am working on book 2 of my agents series! Here are a few excerpts for you...

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The pizza parlor swarmed with agents and policemen working together, collecting evidence and screening the people who had been inside when the ruckus ensued. They’d hustled Merkochaz into a bulletproof ambulance and the body of the dead guard had been taken away.

“Bryce, I’m surprised at you.” Benny’s coffee-colored face gave nothing away. Not even a twitch of his moustache betrayed whatever he might be thinking.

“Sir?”

“You did exactly the right thing, but I’m shocked that you had the guts.” Benny thumbed his nose. “Most newbies flinch at using their firepower during situations that aren’t going according to plan.”

Bryce blinked, eyes still stinging from the charcoal and ash specks. “I felt that it was what I had to do, Sir.”

“I have to say, I’m impressed. You ‘burned through the ashes’, so to speak, to see right to the heart of that scenario.” A smile creased Benny’s face. “Which brings me to your new code name.”

“My… new…” Code name?

“Ashburn.” Benny nodded. “Yep. That’s it. Ashburn.”

Bryce rolled the name around in his mind. Ashburn. He laughed. “I like it!” 

Benny grinned. “It’s yours. I’ll put it on file when I get back to IFP.” He slapped Bryce on the back and walked off to bark some orders at some of the agents collecting evidence in the kitchen.

Ashburn. It would be a reminder for the rest of his days of how he’d followed that inner voice. But he hadn’t done it perfectly. He’d gotten ashes thrown in his face because he had been caught off guard.

I will never let myself get caught off guard again.

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Penny pressed the tissue to her eyes, which were swollen from crying all night long. The morning sunlight streamed through her bedroom window, highlighting tiny dust motes that danced in the air like a mist of fireflies over a meadow.

The piercing grief had dropped on her like a boulder last night, knocking her flat on her back. It came out of nowhere after leaving her in peace for months. She wondered when it would finally end for good, but at the same time, dreaded that day. Would she ever come to forget him?

She brushed a lock of russet-auburn hair from her forehead. Maybe the weeping had been triggered by her best friend’s news. Cara’s engagement was a wonderful event, but for Penny had been shadowed with reminders of what could have been… for her.

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Anyway. :) I'm excited and I think this book might even be better than the first one, which still awaits editing. :D

I'd love to hear from you if you're reading this post, I'm curious to see if I still have any followers...

Blessings!