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Amanda Flower/Isabella Alan

How to Get My Goat

By Isabella Alan

After I finished graduate school and got my first real job as a college librarian, I decided to write a life list of everything I wanted to accomplish in my entire life. The list was long with over fifty goals. I typed it up in fancy colored fonts and taped it to the wall in my first apartment. 

Number seventeen on that impossibly long list was “Own a Goat.” I’m not kidding. I’ve always loved goats. Back then, I saw no reason why I wouldn’t someday have a little hobby farm with a goat sidekick.

It was easy to see then why I would believe goat ownership was possible. My library was tucked away in the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country. My apartment was across the street from a cornfield. Many of my neighbors had pigs, chickens, cows, and just about every barnyard animal you could imagine. I wanted just one goat. I didn’t think it was too lofty of a dream.

However, my circumstances changed, and I had to move back to the city where I grew up to take care of my family—a choice I have never regretted. Unfortunately in the city, goats are frowned upon. My goat dreams were over. Or were they? 

The best thing about being an author is living vicariously through my characters. What better place for a memorable goat than in my Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries? For Murder, Simply Stitched, the second mystery in the series, I created Petunia the Nubian Goat. Petunia is the goat I wanted but could never have in real life. She’s smart, mischievous, and spends a good part of the novel escaping from her pen and disturbing the crime scene. In the end, I suspect, things worked out just like they were supposed to when it came to my goat dream. Through researching how clever and destructive goats can be, I’m a lot better off having a fictional goat rather than a real one.

As for that list of fifty-some goals, I’ve achieved many of them, probably more than the average, but eventually, I tossed the list. I still have goals—some of which are unrealistic—but I’ve learned if I don’t reach every last one of them it won’t be the end of the world and any of those I don’t achieve I can make come true through fiction.

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Isabella Alan is celebrating the release of Murder, Simply Stitched with a special giveaway!

Enter to Win an Amish Charm Bracelet from author Isabella Alan (aka Amanda Flower)! Click here to Enter! http://www.amandaflower.com/Giveaways.html

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Order Murder, Simply Stitched now: Amazon | B&N | Books-A-Million | CBD 

Isabella Alan is the pen name for Agatha Award-nominated author, Amanda Flower.

Thank you, Isabella/Amanda, for taking the time to tell us your story.

Pick up a copy of "Murder, Simply Stitched!" Better yet, grab a copy of "Murder, Plain and Simple" also, and enjoy both cozy Amish mysteries! You'll want to read them more than once. This author will have you turning pages long after bedtime!

Don't forget to enter the contest! You may be one of the lucky winners!