THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY

I am still working on the 8th and final book. The Portals of the Past. I have a few more weeks to meet the deadline.

I didn’t know I would be crying my way through this book, due to the fact that it is the last one in the original series. Seventeen and a half years is a long time to write a story. There were a lot of people telling me what to do and what not to do. But I followed my heart and stayed true to what I believed was right. It doesn’t mean I didn’t listen to good sound advice. It simply means I stayed the course, when it looked like I shouldn’t. I languished for years over this project, including the film side of things.

But I do remember the day I threw the manuscript in the trash. This was when I was first starting to write the story. I wasn’t a fictional writer. I had just spent the previous five years writing a non-fictional devotional that is mentioned in This Fair and Blighted Land. But because I didn’t know what I was doing, I gave up. Mind you, I was bawling my eyes out. I was seriously injured still from a head injury. I had major difficulties due to having a Traumatic Brain Injury and writing was a way for me to still have a career. But my friend called to see how things were going and when she had heard what I had done, what normally took a 40 minutes, took 25. She drove to my house at warp speed, threw open the front door, walked over to the trashcan, dug out my manuscript, threw it on my desk, and said, “You are going to finish this. It’s a good story!” The rest they say, “Is history!” I am about to finish the story. The following is an “ACKNOWLEDGEMENT” to her!

“Jessica, remember how you stayed up all night on the first manuscript writing edits on postcards? I think you had one page that didn’t need editing. But because of you, I had the courage to keep going. Memories! Forever grateful to you!“

There have been a lot of bumps and bruises, ups and downs, and broken hearts from those who left, and some who should have had a restraining order against them, (truth)! But I kept my face like a flint, like Jesus did and kept moving forward.

“And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me, so I’m not disgraced. Therefore I set my face like flint confident that I’ll never regret this. My champion is right here.” Isaiah 50:7 (MSG)

I am in no way comparing my suffering to the Lord’s. But flint is defined as, “a hard stone, something very hard or unyielding.” Flint is also a fire starter. But what stands out the most to me is the word, “unyielding.” It is defined as, “something or someone that is firm, inflexible, and refuses to give way, bend, or change under pressure; won’t stop, won’t give, or won’t bend; unwilling to change a decision, or opinion.”

Even these last six months, I have had to be unyielding with my own goals that I made. It wasn’t easy. But I had to discipline myself and I am seeing the results. I will meet this deadline and the 8th book will be released on July 04, 2026 on the 250th anniversary of America’s Independence!

We’ve come a very long way from Summer Ray A Gettysburg Untold (out of print) to Summer Ray This Fair and Blighted Land. A Gettysburg Untold is the very 1st copy of volume 1. But I changed the title to This Fair and Blighted Land. And after looking at the books side by side, it is freaky. They have the some of the same coloring and the pictures were both taken at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. I also didn’t plan this and in fact, I forgot about the cover of the 1st book, and it is definitely not coincidental!

I am overwhelmed with emotions at the moment. All I can say is, “Thank You, God!” So, as I start to turn my attention to the film side of the project, I will also be marketing the books, doing book signings, and I will soon have the shop on the website. www.thememoirsofsummerray.com. I am still working on the inventory and once I have a sufficient amount, I can add the store.

Thank you for being a part of our Summer Ray world.

“PERSEVERANCE ACCOMPLISHED WHAT AT FIRST SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE!”

Colonel Henry Knox

Continental Army; American Revolution

References: Google; dictionary.com; dictionary.cambridge.org; biblegateway.com