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| Lilacs in bloom* |
Oh, I love spring. New life. More light. The heat of the
sun. Hope. Change.
Okay, maybe I don’t love that last one. Change can hurt.
Change changes us. And when that happens, our writing changes.
Our family just got home from church. We’re attending a
daughter church—one that launched as a smaller extension of the parent church. And
just one week ago, the senior pastor of the parent church died tragically in a
car accident during a missions trip to Africa. As a church community, we’ve
been grieving since. He died with two other ministers—an American missionary,
and a Ugandan pastor. From what I understand, they swerved to miss a little girl
and went over an embankment. Their SUV rolled several times.
This senior pastor was so full of life. Back here in the
states, he ran marathons with his wife. It’s hard to believe all that life was
snuffed out. The pastor of our daughter church tonight acknowledged our grief.
His sermon was more sober than usual. Change had changed him.
Change gives speakers, writers, leaders a new focus. New passion.
New themes we must explore because we can never undo the change that propels us
to address those themes.
I’m guessing you have a few manuscript files at various
levels of completion, yes? In your imagination, zero in on one you wrote years
ago (if possible). Now, pinpoint the theme. Got it? Given we’re living in 2016
with all the life experience between then and now, how would the changes you’ve
been through since then influence this story if you rewrote it today? Would you be satisfied with the way you tackled that theme? My guess, and what I'm sure is true of me with my own work, is my themes would either change or deepen.
Your turn: how has change influenced your writing?
Write on, friends.
~~~~~
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| Her Nerdy Cowboy |
Whoever heard of a bookish cowboy? When Logan
McDaniel’s brother-in-law dies, he steps in to help his beloved sister run her
ranch. But what does a city boy know of herding cattle? Claire Langley loved
her cousin. After he dies, she agrees to serve as a temporary nanny for two
heartbroken children.
Claire and Logan find they share a love of books, and
Claire can’t resist the nerdy uncle who is great with children, and who reads
to her of pirate romance. Claire’s ailing mother needs her in Seattle. Can she
break away? And if she does, can there ever be a future for Logan and her?
~~~~~
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| Annette M. Irby |
Annette M. Irby has three published books and
runs her own freelance editing business, AMI Editing.
See her page here on Seriously Write for more information.
*Photo credit: picture by Annette M. Irby
