Life of its own...

My newest story is intensely and emotionally charged. So, I thought about the purpose of "Nude Day" (July 14th, BTW) and the original purpose was to celebrate and embrace the human body (imperfections and all). I brainstormed how I could do this tastefully.  I thought, maybe my character can have body image issues or insecurities, like so many of us do.  I sat down and started writing. I'm almost up to 12,000 words.  The story has taken on a life of its own, as tends to happen. Even more so after learning news a few days ago which brings that concept home, yet again. I have to see it through. If I don't finish, I will get no sleep and there will be no peace. My life and my words aren't ever truly "mine." I know this and I've made peace with that, but sometimes it still gets to me. What made me choose this particular subject matter?


This story is one of acceptance, healing, and embracing...ultimately one of love.  I had no idea when I started writing this story that it would become so detailed and so personal for a person who is no longer bound to earth. I have been sending healing to a woman for months. I knew nothing about her beyond that she had cancer and little ones at home. I had no way of knowing the details and circumstances of her life.  And yet, they are there on the page before me. "Uncannily" so, as her one friend put it, flabbergasted that I should write such a personal account without know her, without knowing hardly anything about her. They have been validated by her loved ones.   She has very obviously been influencing and inspiring me to tell her story. 


It is my hope that I am able to honor her and her memory; that maybe through my words, she will find what she did not find or could not hold in life.  She is a bright and shining soul and I am thankful she has graced me with her presence.