Three years later, married and with a child on the way, I wondered what I had been thinking. How does a heart survive having two homes twenty-five hundred miles apart? What had seemed adventurous—leaving my home—now felt haunting.
Though I am now established in a job and at a church which I love, homesickness has been a familiar companion to me through the past sixteen years. I have grown to accept this sensation of feeling not quite at home as part of my story, but more so, I have welcomed it as a deep well of inspiration for the stories I write.
A key component of story, in my opinion, is the homesick condition of humanity. Living east of Eden, we are not home anymore. Things are not as they should be, and we feel it in our core. Homesickness is much more than simply longing for one’s home. It is a fundamental recognition that we are separated from the expression of home: comfort, belonging, identity, family, familiarity, safety.
This sense of separation undergirds most every story, and that makes all stories, in a sense, a journey home.
[Okay. Disclaimer. Not all stories, right? There are genres where the journey doesn’t end at home. I don’t read those books.]
The adult years I’ve spent in a state of chronic homesickness have given me an affection for the journeys we all take to find home and belonging. I am sympathetic to my characters’ longings, wounds, and searches for redemption because I have been away from and missed something that I love. I know the melancholy of not being where you want to be. I know the heartache of not belonging.
We write well when we confront what has pained us and recognize that often, within that pain, is also a gift. Perhaps a gift of insight, empathy, or wisdom. Take away the hardship and with it goes the growth.
We write well when we confront what has pained us and recognize that often, within that pain, is also a gift. Perhaps a gift of insight, empathy, or wisdom. Take away the hardship and with it goes the growth. #writingwell #SeriouslyWrite @MaryAFelkins
We’ve just celebrated Easter, and from my perspective, Easter is a celebration of coming home. When Jesus died, the curtain of the temple tore, indicating that the way into an intimate relationship with the Father is now open for all. When Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death, he made possible an eternal home for us with himself.
Welcome home, friends.
When Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death, he made possible an eternal home for us with himself.
Welcome home, friends. #Easter #writingwell #SeriouslyWrite @MaryAFelkins
Welcome home, friends. #Easter #writingwell #SeriouslyWrite @MaryAFelkins
Have you been homesick? I know you have. Share with me how that sense of sadness and longing has benefited you as a writer. Or has it hindered you in any way?
Sondra Kraak, a native of Washington State, grew up playing in the rain, hammering out Chopin at the piano, and running up and down the basketball court. Now settled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she enjoys spending time with her husband and children, Instagramming about spiritual truths, and writing historical romance set in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She delights in sharing stories that not only entertain but nourish the soul. Her debut novel, One Plus One Equals Trouble, was an ACFW Genesis semi-finalist and the winner of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Unpublished Women's Fiction Award. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook and join her newsletter for a free short story and information about special devotional series.
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The one room schoolhouse isn’t big enough to hold thirty-four students, let alone the egos of two teachers. He can’t afford to lose the position, and she refuses to lose her heart. Washington, 1891 Humiliated after her broken engagement, Claire Montgomery flees her comfortable life in San Francisco for a teaching position in Pine Creek, Washington, a dot of a town nestled in the rugged Cascade Mountains. She’s determined to succeed—for once in her life—only to discover, upon her arrival, that success will have to be won. Thanks to a school board error, two teachers have been hired. When scandal forces professor Barrett Clarke from his position, he returns to Pine Creek where his uncle, chairman of the school board, sets forth an irresistible offer: teach one year in return for ranchland. For this would-be rancher, nothing is more tempting than resurrecting his childhood dream, and nothing can deter him from earning that land. Except perhaps Claire Montgomery. Losing the battle for the classroom means losing the ranchland, but winning may mean losing Claire’s heart. With large doses of humor and romantic tension, this Christian historical love story offers a picture of grace, forgiveness, and finding true worth.
