All right. I’ve said it continually. I am a terrible blogger. This year, I am going to try to do better. I have had a number of life changes in 2024, and fingers crossed that will give me more time to sit down and post more frequently with updates and such.
I recently finished up my eighth novel, The Sugar Shack, A historical fiction piece bordering on family saga, with some literary tendencies. 89,000 words. This one was sort of personal. it’s based on actual events. It’s based on my grandmother’s experience as a young woman growing up during WWII. Unlike all other WWII stories out there, this one doesn’t take place in Europe. In fact, this one takes place in the U.S. BEFORE the states were even involved.
Here’s the skinny:
In 1941 Northern New York, sixteen-year-old Lorna Sampson fights to hold her family together as the U.S. government threatens to seize their farm to expand a local military base for World War II.
After her mother’s death, Lorna shoulders the care of her eight siblings while secretly bootlegging whiskey in her father’s sugar shack to make ends meet. Amid her struggles, a budding romance with a new boy at school offers a refreshing escape, but when she learns his father is leading the relocation effort, her trust and heart are tested.
This book is very fresh. I finished it right at the end of 2024. I currently have a couple beta readers out there and have begun searching for an editor. This will be the first book of mine that will be traditionally published. I can feel it in my bones.
Sounds like 2025 is full of goals, doesn’t it? Notice. I said goals, not resolutions.
Michael Mustizer 
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