Did you ever consider yourself an answer to a prayer?

When the elderly neighbors on either side of us passed away, I asked God to send me a good neighbor, a woman friend with whom I could share my joys and sorrows. He sent me two wonderful Bosnian speaking families, a couple our age to our left and a family with children on the other side. We smile and say hello, we in their language and they in English. Hubby is jovial and thinks the louder he talks the more they understand because the men laugh and gesture with him about their gardens and such. He is a talker and a joker. We share food with one another; it's a cultural experience and fun, but we have limited verbal exchanges.

Recently, I lamented the fact that I didn't get an answer to my prayers. If only I had a neighbor lady to talk to, like when my kids were young and my next door neighbor and I shared every detail of our lives.

If you are reading this, I consider you a coffe klatch 'neighbor' no matter how far away you are, whether you are male or female. Your supportive comments on my previous post demonstrated that God does answer prayers; he sent me each of you! I appreciate your friendship and was deeply touched by your positive comments.

Wish me luck as I head off to meet up with NY agents at the Mo. Writer's Conference. I am pitching my women's fiction novel, The Hot Mess Chronicles, or perhaps I should title it, One Hot Mess After Another. It is a not a genre romance, although there are elements of romance. It is a realistic, engaging tale of four women: next door neighbor housewives, Trish, a goody-two-shoes all of her life and Meg, a former go-go dancer/wild child, who has settled down and been a good wife. Sally her older sister is in a long-term, loveless marriage, and Racquel returns as a blast from Meg's past. Twenty years later she is wilder than she was when they were in school.

The four women experience simultaneous divorces, affairs, and conflict. Three of the women are married to jealous, cheating, controlling husbands. This novel details their playfulness, silliness, (think Lucy and Ethel escapades) their insecurities, imperfections and growth. There are elements of drama, suspense, conflict, humor, major twists and tragedy. The ending is inspirational and spiritual and has made some early readers cry. As a result of their friendships, these four women with distinctly different personalities are able to endure their unhealthy marriages, escape from them, and to evolve into emotionally healthy individuals.

Thanks again to all of you for your friendship. I'm off and running. Last night I had dinner with Hope Clark, Funds for Writers who is presenting at the conference. She is so down to earth and fun. I am quite blessed to be her go-fer, also known as writer's shepherd.