Haunted Halls will be released on Wednesday! Very excited.
Haunted Halls is my college story. (Sort of.) I wrote it when my oldest daughter had just graduated from college and my youngest was choosing a college. It got me thinking about my own college experiences, and I have to say that if any of my characters is a lot like me, it’s Evan. I hated the idea of college. I was shy, quiet, and a total homebody. I didn’t want to go, no way, no how. My mother forced me into it, and I didn’t have a lot of choices where I went because, like Evan, I had free tuition at the state colleges since my mother worked for the state. I understood that a free education was not to be passed up, so I unwillingly packed my clothes, some books, my typewriter (gasp!) and moved into Johnson State College, which was about an hour away from my beloved home.
I was utterly miserable my first night. My roommate was just like the ones I describe Evan having (except that I made him suffer with three) and yes, I spent my first night huddled in a stairwell. I also hid at the pond and in the library, and I made many tearful phone calls home begging to be released from prison.
But, like Evan, I finally made friends. I took the initiate to move out of my room and away from my mean, nasty, horrible roommate and in with someone I got along with a lot better. I began to like my classes (I majored in writing. Go figure.) I even, by the end of the year, had found a boyfriend. Yes, we kissed by the pond. (The pond, I describe in exact detail in the story, down to the two rocks, one on shore and one out in the water. I swam to that one once, so I have sat on both.)
My boyfriend was a lot like Gabriel, except for having a fear of heights. No way would he have sat on the railing of the balcony in the dining hall (which I also describe in perfect detail). But he was a very kind, older guy who kept an eye on stressed out freshmen, in a good way. And, of course, my boyfriend hadn’t died…
I ended up marrying my boyfriend a few years after graduation. So it’s a good thing I stuck out those first few weeks of hell.
And the college that our oldest daughter just graduated from? The same one. And next month, she’s marrying the young man she met her freshman year. And two nights ago, I was back on campus for a concert that my husband was playing in.
Who says time moves in a line? It’s a spiral, for sure.
Click HERE for a link to the Johnson State College website so you can see what the college looks like today.
And click HERE to preorder your copy of Haunted Halls on sale, so you’ll have it bright and early on Wednesday morning and save money!
Thanks!