The Water Door

Meet Aggie

I was born and given the name Linda June – Aggie L. Jae is my pen name, given to me by my two grandsons — on a pretty, rain-showery day in the month of April, 1955 in Pottstown Pennsylvania. Over the years, the people, places, and events of my life would inspire my journey in writing The Water Door.

EARLY LIFE:

I was born and given the name Linda June – Aggie L. Jae is my pen name, given to me by my two grandsons — on a pretty, rain-showery day in the month of April, 1955 in Pottstown Pennsylvania. I was my parents first child and remained so until my first sister was born four years later.

During my first four years, I had my parents to myself, especially my father who did everything with me. Dad and I would play games, listen to music and sing songs. He would take me on adventures through the woods and teach me things about the different animals and how to respect the environment. He taught me how to identify the many kinds of trees and plants. He taught me to listen to and remember all the beautifully unique bird songs. He also taught me how to find my way in the woods by looking at the sun to know what direction I needed to go to find my way home. Dad was amazing.

When I wasn’t at home with my parents, I stayed on my grandparents’ farm. My grandmother was wonderful and she loved me very much. She was full of fun and laughter. She was busy all the time and I followed her around as she was gathering eggs, cooking in her kitchen, cleaning her house, or mowing grass.

Sometimes, while I was at the farm, I would take long walks to my favorite place in the nearby woods. That place was a large boulder where I would sit and imagine all sorts of fantastic things. I was pretty much allowed to roam all over most of the farm, but I was never allowed to go into the springhouse, where fresh spring water flowed out of the ground all the time. The old shed that protected the spring was very old and it was filled with wasps and snakes. It wasn’t a safe place for a kid to be!

I was an okay student in school, but I loved English class and I especially enjoyed reading adventure books. While I was in third grade, I received an A+ on a poem. From then on, I was hooked on writing. I wrote all kinds of stuff from stories to letters to my Japanese pen pal, but mostly poems. As I got older, I wrote some plays and a musical.

When I was sixteen, I tried out for a part in my friend, David’s, musical, Give the Little Girl a Great Big Hand. I got the part and a star was born! I participated in every chorus group and stage play until, as a senior, I landed the role of Golde, the female lead part in Fiddler on the Roof, with my dear friend David as Tevye.

After graduation I participated in a few summer stock productions, but I was also working a full-time job. The excitement for the stage dwindled. However, I was not to be deterred. I became a professional model and took my training into the YWCA where I taught self-improvement classes for women and directed a teen girl class in local schools called the Y-Teens.

In 1977, I got married and as the years passed, I had three children. A daughter and two sons. When my husband died, I supported my little family by working as a waitress for many years. In 1993, I met and married my current husband. We have been together for almost 30 years. During those years we owned a restaurant and bred Arabian horses for racing. Recently, my husband has been managing country clubs and I became a Licensed Massage Therapist. However, all was not happy.

In 2013, our daughter lost her life to opioid addiction. My world was devasted. I knew I had to do something to heal myself and my family.

I started to write a book. At first, I called it, Stay Out of the Springhouse, but that title quickly changed to become The Water Door. As I wrote, I pulled all my memories of my grandparent’s farm from the archives of every one of my braincells. I also recalled everything I had learned in school, especially English class and all the fascinating things I learned in science class. I figured if the surface of our planet Earth is about 75 percent water and the human body is about 65 percent, why not create a connection? So, I did. I created a hydro-portal – a water door into a wormhole in space. To access the wormhole, you had to have a special gene in your DNA in order to dissolve your body into the hydro-portal that would take you to another planet and back again.

I worked hard and long, and as I wrote I shared the story with my family. It really helped us heal our hearts and our lives.
Now, after eight years, The Water Door is ready to go!

I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing for you!

WHAT'S NEW IN THE WORLD OF THE WATER DOOR IN 2024? THE COOKBOOK!

WHAT’S FOR FOOD? A Gathering of Recipes Foraged from Between the Award-Winning Pages of The Water Door!

Join Aggie as she shares the yummy recipes from Gramma’s kitchen on Earth and from the medieval kitchens on the planet Tetherae! She cooked and taste-tested every recipe in this cookbook, which was created so that kids and their families could prepare and enjoy meals from The Water Door, opening a new interactive dimension of reading. So, whether you are a newcomer to the adventure of cooking or someone seasoned in the journey of preparing delicious meals, this book will become your new best friend in the kitchen. HAVE FUN!

GUESS WHAT ELSE IS COMING IN 2025…?

THE WATER DOOR BOOK 2 — The Secret of the Anakim Ruby

Here’s a little hint about the new adventures of Jeremy, Josh, and their family…

After arriving back on Earth and relishing their successful adventure of saving Jeremy and Josh’s parents by finding the family’s legendary heirloom, the Zecucith, the family learns about the promise Josh made to his new Anakim friend, Omer. He promised to find Omer’s father, who had been banished to Earth for a crime he did not commit, give him the blood ruby that Josh was given, and take Omer’s father back to Tetherae to prove his innocence with it.

However, as soon as they begin their new adventure in the remote forests of Montana and Canada, they realize that they are not alone. Someone or something is following them, and when Gramma disappears, the desperate search for her becomes scarier by the minute. Who are the two strangers that have been shadowing the family since their arrival in Montana? Why is a giant Grizzly reported to be terrorizing hikers but is never seen? Where is Grampa’s brother Bernard, and how can he help them find Omer’s father so Josh can give him the ruby and send him back to Tetherae?

Where is the Water Door going to take them this time? You will find out when The Water Door Book 2: The Secret of the Anakim Ruby, launches next year!

FAQs

Well, it’s not so much of a WHAT as it is a WHO. When I was small, by father would put me to bed and tell me wonderful stories. He even acted them out. As I grew up, I realized that he had made up those stories. It is because of my father, and how he encouraged me to stretch out my own imagination, that I knew I could make up wonderful stories, too.

Yes, I was! I still am! LOL

From my own imagination, but mostly from science. I thought since the world is about seventy-five percent water and the human body is about sixty-five percent water, there could possibly be some kind of connection. As I began writing The Water Door, I created a family who had the ability to dissolve into water. Then I imagined a secret place for them to dissolve into -- a hydro-portal! It was a mystical door of water that was connected to a wormhole in space. I hid this portal/door on the family’s farm. I also created the energy needed to push or nudge them into the door. The Nudge would push them to the portal and then dissolve and flow them through the water door, into the wormhole, through space and onto a planet called Tetherae, and back again.

I love taking care of my three old cats, Frank is 22 years old, Tiggie Tiger is 18, and Mitch is 12. I also enjoy indoor and outdoor gardening. I especially like collecting different colors of Zugo Cacti or Christmas Cacti as they are commonly called. Mine like to bloom all year long!

No. However, just like Jeremy and Joshua, I grew up spending a lot of time on my grandparent’s farm, AND I wasn’t allowed to go near the springhouse on the property because of the wasps and snakes!

Yes! If you want to find out what it’s about, you will find a BIG clue at the end of The Water Door!

Being friends with my imaginary characters and sharing their adventures on Tetherae. I truly had a lot of fun creating that otherworldly planet with its people and their castles, treehouses, caves and best of all – dinosaurs!

Read. I suggest reading different kinds of books to figure out which ones you like the best. Then, find a quiet spot to sit and daydream about what it would be like to be your favorite character in your favorite book. Write your ideas down and keep them in a scrapbook to save them for when you are ready to write. I have notes about The Water Door dating back to the summer of 1972. I was seventeen. Clipping pictures from magazines is fun, too!

Absolutely nothing! I LOVE to write!

Louis Sacher (Holes, Fuzzy Mud) Kate Milford (Green Glass House), Watt Key (Hideout, Four Mile, Terror at Bottle Creek), Ivy Ruckman (Night of the Twisters), Katie Slivensky (The Seismic Seven, The Countdown Conspiracy), and Jeanne DuPrau (The City of Ember Series).

Not at all! What other job can transport you and your make-believe friends to another planet full of fun adventures? Writing is fabulous!

Anne McCaffrey. She wrote The Dragonriders of Pern.

I have enjoyed reading adventure books all my life. I still do! I also like to read books about science and nature. I love a good mystery, too! I am known to take my time to scour a bookstore, or an antique store until I find my treasure -- an old mystery book written by a forgotten author.