Listen to the Ghost

A girl who wants to forget her ex-boyfriend and his lying lips.

A ghost who doesn't want to be a ghost.

A one-hundred-year-old neighbor who talks in riddles.

And a handsome sax player who changes everything.

Do you like ghosts? Do you like mysteries? If so, let me tell you a little about my novel for readers, ages ten to one hundred, even though it's listed as young adult.

Charleston, SC, is one of my favorite cities. If I had to live anywhere but here, I'd choose Charleston. It is also the setting of my paranormal novel. The haunted house in my story is a combination of  the houses I saw while on a visit to Charleston. We took a walking tour of the historic district and heard wonderful tales of ghosts that supposedly haunted many of the Victorian homes. Now, I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but the stories fascinated me. I also read books about ghosts and decided I had to write about one.

Another part of  Charleston that I love is the Civil War history. Fort Sumter, where visitors can tour on their own, seeing the cannons, browsing through the museum, picturing what the soldiers' lives were like there, so many years ago. Did ghosts still wander the grounds at night, searching for peace so they could finally rest? I wondered. I added a scene at the fort to my story.

White Point Gardens, where the pirate Stede Bonnet was hanged (he's in a mg story I'm working on now) has a great view of the river, and one scene takes place there. I snapped pictures of cemetaries, some so old the names can barely be read on the stones. Many of the resting places are in church yards. I may be weird, but I think cemetaries are awesome. So quiet and peaceful. The one I wrote about in the book was next to a church. Wild vines and flowers nearly covered many of the headstones. I have gorgeous pictures that I taped on the wall as I was writing that scene.

Listen to the Ghost was a fun book to write and people who have read it say it's fun to read too. Who could dislike a mischievous ghost who enjoys having food fights and wearing the main character's clothes, even though she does cause trouble?

So there you have it: a little about my novel and the reason I wrote it.