It’s been a long and lonely time for this humble little blog over the past few months.
Not only did it suffer neglect at the hands of the muse who decided any writing time would be better served by adding more words to Warrior’s Surrender, my second historical romance (it’s about four chapters away from completion!), but also real life intruded with the very sudden and very serious illness of my husband (fortunately he is very much on the mend).
Only today a very dear family friend gave both of us a big hug and said that when he heard the news about the stroke he said his immediate thought was ‘that’s not right, after everything the Carters have been through!’.
It’s true enough that the past five to seven years have not been good to us. They have been wilderness years.
So, what does this have to do with writing – let alone romance?
Well, potentially without them I wouldn’t be here today with Moonstone Obsession just six weeks away from its publication date. Without those challenges I would never have sat down and written the story – for everything there is a season.
Life’s setbacks are designed to force you to reassess priorities, re-establish boundaries, forge individual strength and resolve. Events dating back more than five years set me on a course from the comfortable and predictable to the fresh and exciting.
It hasn’t always been a pleasant journey but it has always been a valuable one.
It has provided an open window to the soul and what makes us human – the emotions, the choices and the perspectives that go with it.
Writers need it because readers need it:
A Time For Everything
There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does?
I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly.
True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but He’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether He’s coming or going.
I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life.
That’s it—eat, drink, and make the most of what you do.
It’s God’s gift.
Our readers have experienced love and laughter, pain and tears – it would be dishonest to not have our characters experience these things too.
In the case of romance we also provide the ‘happily ever after’ – the promise of the hope of a brighter tomorrow with more more laughter than tears.
These last few weeks have taught me about the threat of loss, the deception of fear and the strength of love.
I hope I’ve captured these things sufficiently for my characters to experience them and through them, my readers – not simply for the purpose of taking them on an emotional rollercoaster but for them to end the ride as I do – optimistic, cheerful, full of love and laughter.
It’s God’s gift.