But I guess my favorite sign I’ve discovered so far is the one that captions this blog post. The word sign doesn’t do it justice. It’s a work of art, displayed on an old brick building just on the edge of downtown Skowhegan, Maine. A group of presumably young artists—Amber, Daken, Layla, Megan, Maddy, Norle, Kim, and Sydalia—created it as part of the 2023 MLK Semester of Service Project.

Seeing it in person was special. I stopped at 9am on a Wednesday morning and was the only one there in an empty dirt parking lot. It’s a big lake, but in an accessible kind of way. The loop around the perimeter is about three and a half miles. I didn’t walk it. I was too busy taking photos and videos and marveling at the scene.

Jumping off my soapbox now… I made two memorable stops in my travels that Jake did not have time to make as he sped across Vermont and New Hampshire on his way to Ember Road. The two stops? Abraham and the Buddha. I was torn on which photo to use in the caption, but my favorite President and historical figure won out. I don’t think my decision disturbed the Buddha one bit.

I’m celebrating the completion of the novel with a trip to New England where I’ll trace part of Jake Doe’s travels from the story. I began my trip with a flight from Atlanta to Boston on Friday. As I walked to my gate in Concourse C, TBoogie was blasting Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal on a stand-mount speaker, filling the entire concourse with upbeat sounds.

But instead, for this first edition, I leaned on some really smart family members for input. As I said in my first and second Acknowledgments in the book, my sweet sister and my parents were essential to the process. I referred to my sister at the tip of the editing spear.

Back to books... Books were always a big part of my life. As the son of two schoolteachers, I learned to love reading at a very early age.

During this period of my life of relaxing and writing, I’m reminded firsthand of what I’ve always known. Nature is healing.