As I sit here and write this blog, I’m still in shock. My first book, Sometime Yesterday, is a finalist for the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in the Romance category.

How did that happen? How did I get on that list with so many amazing authors? The only explanation that makes sense to me is that it is a gift from my daughter, Deserae Marie.

On May 3^rd 2006, I woke from a horrible nightmare at 4:44 AM. It was later that morning when I got the phone call that she’d passed and knew that was the time she died. For almost a year, I woke at the same time every morning.  At the time,  I associated the number with death, grief, and pain.

When I reached a point in that grieving process where I could let something other than the pain through, I realized my…