Barbara McLaughlin
Barbara McLaughlin was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently resides. She studied Early Childhood Education and worked in the field of education for several years before taking time out to raise her two sons. During that period, she not only helped her husband build their family-owned coffee roasting company; she self-published her first book, a remedial reading workbook filled with simple stories and quirky animated characters. When her dear father fell ill to a terminal illness, however, her creative spirit faded, and she abandoned the project.
Barbara directed her energies toward family and business for almost twenty years. All the while, her creative side continued to call to her. She eventually resurrected the animated characters that had been central to her remedial reading workbook and began to write a collection of life-lesson tales for her family. She didn’t know her creative journey would lead her to fascinating places she never expected to explore or that she would become an accidental novelist during the process.
As the tales slowly morphed into a larger story, five main characters rose to the surface, as did the associated memory of her father’s passing. Barbara found it fitting to create a character based on her father to bridge the gap between the world we know and the unlikely characters’ new world, which became Heaven’s Wait.
Since then, whenever she has found time away from family and work, Barbara has immersed herself in expanding the world of Heaven's Wait. Aside from work on her in-progress 7-part book series, she is also developing a HW book series for young children. The flowering of her fantasy world has been her constant joy, and she is thrilled that there are now believers in the magic of Heaven's Wait.
Barbara directed her energies toward family and business for almost twenty years. All the while, her creative side continued to call to her. She eventually resurrected the animated characters that had been central to her remedial reading workbook and began to write a collection of life-lesson tales for her family. She didn’t know her creative journey would lead her to fascinating places she never expected to explore or that she would become an accidental novelist during the process.
As the tales slowly morphed into a larger story, five main characters rose to the surface, as did the associated memory of her father’s passing. Barbara found it fitting to create a character based on her father to bridge the gap between the world we know and the unlikely characters’ new world, which became Heaven’s Wait.
Since then, whenever she has found time away from family and work, Barbara has immersed herself in expanding the world of Heaven's Wait. Aside from work on her in-progress 7-part book series, she is also developing a HW book series for young children. The flowering of her fantasy world has been her constant joy, and she is thrilled that there are now believers in the magic of Heaven's Wait.
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RJ's Story - Heaven's Wait! Tales from Vowella
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Fantasy Fiction, Young Adult
Do you know why you were given the life you have? There are more than a couple of folks who would like to know the answer to that question. Beyond our realm, in the world of Heaven’s Wait, a community of oddball, animated beings, the Vowellans, live with innocent hope that someone called their Angelicous will someday arrive to help them realize their destiny. With questions of his own, a recently deceased earthly man, Robert James, decides to travel an adventurous route to Heaven. During his flight, he becomes tangled in a wild storm that captures his small plane and delivers him to Heaven’s Waits’ Vowella Valley, the storm-devastated home of the Vowellans. Once RJ discovers the comical, quirky clans of Vowella: the jolly Ham Bats; the greedy Net Kens; the quiet Fig Wigs; the intelligent Fog Bobs; and the rowdy Rug Bums, along with a few familiar faces from his past, he begins a new life journey, one of surprise, discovery, challenge, sharing, and hope for a clear sense of purpose for all. This is where the story begins.
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Innocents - Heaven's Wait! Tales from Vowella
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Fantasy Fiction, Young Adult
Discovering who and what you are truly meant to be is no easy task. Just ask Mok Fog Bob. Mok, a bright, intuitive fifteen-year-old member of Vowella’s present-day Fog Bob clan, embarks on a mission to help the town’s earthborn Angelicous, Mr. RJ PLOM, unlock the key to the Vowellans’ unknown purpose in the mystical world of Heaven’s Wait. The curious, comical, and often troubling everyday behaviors of Vowella’s five colorful, quirky clans—the Ham Bats, Net Kens, Fig Wigs, Fog Bobs, and Rug Bums—may be keeping them from discovering their destiny. Mok is determined to find out why. When Mok becomes a frustrated researcher, RJ calls on his own mentor for help in solving the puzzle. From Lady Wisteena, a mysterious angel-type figure who resides in Heaven’s Wait’s capital, New Life City, he learns that there are no easy solutions to such complicated missions. Will Mok’s investigations turn up enough clues to help RJ shed new light on the Vowellans’ destiny? Or is Mok asking too much of himself, his community, and customs that have endured for generations?
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