Dear Me.

Dear Abbey,

I am finally doing it. I am writing a book. I've wanted to for as long as I can remember. My inspiration to actually put my dream into Microsoft Word came after I read a particular debut novel last year. The novel could be classified as “escapist” fiction without anything shocking, layered, exploratory, or remarkable about it. For some of my well-read friends, it’d probably receive a 2 or 3 star rating on Goodreads. It didn't make the New York Times Bestseller list. In fact, it was a very clean romance. (Turned down by several publishers I hear because it was so squeaky clean). Now before you quit reading this mid-sentence and decide that I’m weird, let me tell you what inspired me. The book reminded me of a very important element in life that shouldn't be missing. Romance. With all the hardness, stress, worry, and responsibility in life, it reminded me to enjoy that important aspect of life. And yes, even if the book was corny, yes even if it may not spark an in-depth controversial intellectual discussion, it did lighten my load, my life, and remind me of something important, an essence of life.

That got me thinking. I've always wanted to write a book that was exciting, kept my attention, lightened my burden, and yet also provoked a deeper sense of meaning and intellectual discussion. A book that had impact.  Hmm, I’d always thought, maybe at some future day. Then I read the above mentioned author’s blog, how she decided not to wait for some future date (aka having the kids raised, being a little more settled, having more time to write, etc.). An idea for an important story came into my mind around that same time. I’d seen so many popular novels recently make it big, and yet some of the ethics and morals in them were less than uplifting and could be described in the words of Young Tantor in the movie Tarzan, “it looks questionable to me.” I was proud of the author of the above book when I read about how her quest for publication was denied several times because she wouldn't compromise her moral standard. She did not bend to the mainstream wind of popularity. The written word is powerful in stories. It can draw you in to a horrifically terrible and degrading story, and leave you stripped from a goodness that was once a part of you. These type of written stories generally have built in rationalization and justification systems (“but it drew me in,” “it was well-written”). They use word form and technique to distract you from the ugly while they rob you of the importance of life. The word, however, also has the ability to uplift, inspire, and speak truth to the soul, which may change a life, an individual, forever. Which way the word is wielded can have either a disastrous or miraculous effect upon the mind of the partaker.

So, what was stopping me from writing a book? Nothing. I started. About 14,000 words into my book, I had the thought to start this blog. So, here it is. I am writing you to ask you to please stay with me, despite the demands of life, and help me out.

Sincerely,

Me