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Friday, January 4, 2019

thoughts on story-telling

So that was quite the holiday. Little baby guy came down with pneumonia. On Christmas Day. Me. In a hospital ER. Canceled holiday dinner plans. No where to go. No food to celebrate at the house. I definitely went home and had a frozen meal while Little baby guy watched PJ Masks (bigs were at their dada's house, which is a whole other reality that is making me feel hazy about the holidays....just too...off.)

And now it is post-holidays. (Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus)

And Little baby guy is headed back to school.

This morning I got the Bigs off to the bus.

Okay Little baby guy. Time for school. Cue screaming tantrum over getting dressed. Poor guy is still sick and has been transferred from the toddler house to the children's house for three-five year olds because, as they put it, he is too verbal. HA. In any case.

I am thinking what to do and I say, hey, want to hear a story?

He pauses.

I get in his face and softly tell him the story of the little boy who grew so big from the sunshine that he had to go outside all day and his mama missed him but when the night sky came and the sun went to bed he shrunk back and went into his own bed and kissed his mama goodnight the end.

Not my most creative endeavor. But it worked. So all the while I am getting him dressed and we are downstairs eating and then....screaming over getting his coat on and I don't want to go to the Big Kid school.

Another story. Once upon a time there was a little boy who wouldn't put on his coat because he missed the sunshine so much. But the winter wind was stronger than the sun and blew him all around so he put on his coat and went out with his mama and smiled at the sun and remembered summer and the flowers and butterflies that would come.

Again. Not creative but it worked.

Cue another screaming fit. (I am going somewhere with this I promise) I am kneeling next to him as we stand in front of the door to his new Big Kid School. I want to go to Little Boy School he cries! So I say, do you want another story?

Once upon a time there was a little boy. And even though he was very little he was very brave. And he went to Big Kid School with all the Big Kids and had a fun time the end.

Tell me again mama, he whispers.

So I do.

And he marches into that room and puts away his bag and all is well with the world.

My point?

Stories have power over us. They guide us. They heal us. They instruct us.

Which is why my story I want to introduce to you today is so special to me. It isn't profound, or worthy of awards, or even a book contract, HA. (Too many dystopian novels out there! They all told me) But it is lovely. And fun. And it is mine. And it saw me through so much.

I wrote it five years ago. All 100,000 words (that is a big-ass book, if you are wondering) and I was editing it over the past few months to get it ready to put up as an e-book I noticed something.

This story, is the story of me, walking out of postpartum depression. Really it is.

I started it with a vision of a girl, with a dagger in her mouth, walking in a tunnel underground. She is crouched low, toxic slime dripping off the walls. She is on the defense, but also on the move. She has to save her people, but she is so alone, and it is so dark, and it is so hard.

This is Lydia. My girl.

She and I walked through some hard times but, we make it out. We are making it. Something like that.

And then other characters emerged. They were parts of me too. Queen Riona. Mama Bear. Warrior. Fierce. Self-sacrificing. Mikko, loyal and faithful friend. Cronus, the rebel troublemaker with Snape-like qualities who ends up....I can't tell you it will spoil the story.\And his wife, Denae. The raw emotions of motherhood and birth came out writing her.

And that is what story telling does. It frees. It enlightens. And hopefully, for you, it entertains.

So. Read if you will. Tell me what you think. And please, share with somebody you think might like it! (Pretty please!) Book Two is cued up to be available next month (the end half of the original book I read, each volume is around 40,000 words, totally manageable!). Books Three and Four are sketched and ready to be written over the next few months.

Click here if you want to download. Hugs and love people.




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