I made it! I'm finally here on Goodreads! I've been an avid fan of Goodreads for years, and it's been a dream of mine for the last many years to claim "Goodreads Author Status."

If this is the first time you're seeing me, let me tell you a little about myself.

I currently live in Minnesota, but I was raised in Oklahoma. My father was one of fourteen children and, growing up during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, his family was the poorest kind of poor you can imagine. My dad's cousin pulled me aside one time about ten years ago to explain it to me.

"Cathie," he said, "I don't think you have any concept for how hard your dad and his siblings have worked to rise above poverty. When we were kids, they were dirt poor."

I thought I knew what "dirt poor" meant, but I had no idea. My dad's cousin went on to clarify for me.

"Dirt poor means exactly that. They were so poor that they couldn't even afford real floors in their home. The floor was dirt. It was quite literally the ground upon which their home was built."

I had no idea.

The more I learned about my dad and his family, the more intrigued I was. My grandmother had married a man more than twenty years her senior, and together they had a combined fourteen children. I say "combined," because my grandfather came to the marriage with five children from a previous marriage, and my grandmother went on to have four children more after his death.

Times were hard in this days. My grandfather passed away from an appendicitis rupture around 1934, leaving my grandmother with (then) ten children. Shortly thereafter, she lost the farm that was their livelihood; but she was determined to not allow her children to go hungry. She worked long hours taking in laundry and cleaning the homes of others, while her children also worked odd jobs to help supplement what she could bring in. While I've never come right out and asked, I'm not sure that all of her children finished high school. I don't think my dad did, but it's not something I'd ever ask him.

From that poverty, my dad and his siblings pulled themselves up and overcame. My father enlisted in the Army when he was too young to join legally by "borrowing" his older brother's birth certificate. This, of course, caused no end of problems in later years; but times were and they each did what they had to do to get by.

My father spent 20 years in the Army and, during this time, he enrolled in college and eventually earned three masters' degrees (History, Psychology and Counseling). He taught high school in my hometown of El Reno, OK for more than 25 years, and I'd like to believe he made a difference in the lives of his students. I know they made a difference in his own life.

Why do I give you all this backstory? Because the backstory is what prompted the writing of my book. The more I thought about those days of my father's youth -- specifically, my grandmother with all of those children -- the more I needed to know.

My grandmother passed away in the 1990s, and only my father and four siblings remain. What's left are the anecdotes without any real explanation behind them.

How did she do it? How did a 28 year old woman with (then) ten children survive alone in a time and place that defeated many grown men? If you've read The Grapes of Wrath, then you know that many Oklahomans went West for a better life; but, the truth is that most Oklahomans couldn't afford to leave. Most didn't have enough money to get out of the state, much less make it all the way to California. My grandmother and her children were among those who stayed behind.

The Edge of Nowhere is the story of my family, but it's really Oklahoma's Story. While it was inspired by my father's family -- and, in fact, includes many actual events passed down through family anecdotes -- in many ways it's the story of all Oklahomans who stayed behind. It's the story of tenacity and the strength of the human spirit. It's the story of the TRUE Spirit of Oklahoma -- that same spirit that takes Oklahomas through the devastation of tornados, floods, and even terroristic events. I hope you'll add it to your Goodreads list and let me know what you think when you're done reading.. You can find my book here. Just a note that the cover hasn't been revealed yet, but should be soon...REALLY SOON!

What more can I tell you? I'd love to answer your questions, so be sure to ask! If you're new to me, consider surfing over to my website to see what I'm up to and what kinds of things I've posted, both about my own books and the books authored by others. Here's the link to my website: C.H. Armstrong Books & Blog. I hope to see you over there!

Until next time!

Cathie