In My Words: Kimberly Burton Allen, Writer

I was a child when Mary Poppins was first released, and it remains one of my favorite Disney movies. We saw it first at a drive in theater, which was the theater option of choice for the first ten or so years of my life, and the dress code, of course, was jammies. Dad got the big bucket of popcorn from the concession stand while Mom helped us kids to set up a nest of pillows and blankies in the back of the family station wagon from which to view the screen. I've always loved the last scene and song, "Let's Go Fly A Kite"  (lyrics by the Sherman Brothers): Let's go fly a kite Up to the highest height Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring Up through the atmosphere Up where the air is clear Oh, let's go fly a kite In the scene, Mary Poppins' machinations have brought Mr. Banks to the realization that spending quality time with his children and family is at least as important as his job. For me, as for perhaps Jane and Michael Banks, the so

Well...it's done. My third novel, CHOICE, has just been published on Kindle. The feeling is somewhere between giving birth and sending your child off to school for the first time. The book and I have lived together so long in solitary confinement, that it is with mixed feelings I launch it into the greater world. Yes, that was why I wrote it...that it might see the light of day in someone's hands other than mine. But still. Given these feelings, as well as the subject matter, there's a certain synchronicity that CHOICE comes out today, Mother's Day, as it is the story of  a woman whose former lover’s death forces a re-examination of her life, including the question of whether to tell her daughter the truth about her parentage. About CHOICE:  What happens when the fallout of a long-past relationship threatens to destroy everything in your current one?