Thanks, Jack. One of the many things I learned from the writing and publishing of that novel is to never, ever, ever, ever, ever use the word, reincarnation, in the title of a book. Never! The title of that book was the very, very worst title I could possibly come up with. It may be the biggest blunder of my writing life. It guaranteed that the book would not become a bestseller.

It was a horrible title. It hardly had anything to do with the story. The best title for the book would have been, Blue Heron Summer. I have thought often about going back and republishing it under that title instead — but that’s such a hassle.

There is a little tiny switch in the noggins of most Westerners that immediately gets switched off whenever the word, reincarnation, is uttered. No more reading is done once that word is uttered. If you’re going to write a novel that in any way involves concepts of reincarnation it is best not to advertise that. Instead, let the reader find out once they’re halfway through the book. Hopefully they’ll be hooked on the story enough to keep reading.

And sadly, nowadays almost no one under the age of 60 knows who the hell Edgar Cayce was.

The very best advice I can give any aspiring author is to avoid the word, reincarnation. The second best piece of advice is to keep writing and publishing no matter what mistakes you make.

Concepts of reincarnation are anathema to the Roman Catholic Church. But this doesn’t matter. After all, a book with reincarnation in the title just might still end up on the shelf of a Roman Catholic thrift store.

Like my mama always used to say, “Books are like a box of chocolates. Ya never know what you’re gonna get.” And you’ll never know until you open the box. These are wise words for both readers and writers.

After all, everyone loves chocolate.