Read how Stepping Through Seagrass became a novel

When my husband and I moved from the Midwest to Southwest Florida five years ago, I immediately fell in love with the place.  The tropical environment and warm winters suited me.  I began exploring and found there was a rural Florida that is rarely visited.

After finishing my first novel, The Olive Branch- A Tale of Resistance, I wanted to make my new home the setting for my second novel.  But how could I craft a story to include all the beauty that surrounded me?

Since some of my favorite reads are contemporary women's fiction, I decided that I would create a character, a female physician who after recovering from alcoholism has difficulty finding a job.

I put her to work as a Public Health Service doctor and placed her in a rural town in S.W. Florida.  After doing reserch about the town, I found that there were still Seminole Indians living there.  I read about the Seminoles and decided to create a clan of Indians who would live on a rervation near the clinic.  Then I created a medicine man who believes in herbal medicine and viola, I had the perfect conflict for Dr. Kate Anderson my protagonist since she believes in traditional medicine.

The novel has a bittersweet romance between the two characters and all the intrigue of a rural S.W. Florida town.

Enjoy the read!

Linda