I have to be honest: when I started writing the Gideon Hawke Series it never occurred to me I might win an award. Imagine my surprise when this happened! On Saturday I had the great honor of receiving the Kansas Notable Book Award for my novel A Nest of Hornets.

That was an incredible experience…but it was not the best experience this weekend.

On Friday I had the opportunity to speak to the 7th and 8th Graders at Chase Middle School in Topeka, Kansas. We discussed authorship, the American Revolution, and what “all men are created equal” means today.

When I started writing the series I did hope that I might in some small way be able to enhance young people’s understanding of the Revolution and what it means. The visit to Chase was a remarkable opportunity to do just that. Even better, I had a young lady approach me after one of the sessions and share her aspiration to be a writer; I was able to give her a bit of encouragement and advice.

I will probably never win a Pulitzer Prize or bust into the New York Times Best Seller List; but that’s just fine. If success means having a positive impact on a younger generation, I’m already been there! Now the challenge is to keep up the momentum!