While I was taking my walk this morning, one of my characters, Samantha Rutgers from Play it Again, Sam, started talking to me. She insisted she wanted the floor, so to speak, so here she is to share some thoughts with you. I figured if I let her have this space, she would then hush and let Sarah and Angel talk to me. It’s their book I need to be writing now.
While Maryann did a pretty decent job telling my story in fiction.
Um, excuse me?
Okay, maybe a bit better than decent. Satisfied, Maryann?
Now where was I? Oh, right. I just realized that Maryann has never shared much about the story behind the story. Play it Again, Sam is fiction, but it was inspired by a true story, and, boy, did Maryann ever make me relate to that poor lady who had to hear her husband say he didn’t love her any more.
Can you imagine what a kick in the gut that can be?
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who are getting kicked, men as well as women. Their spouses decide for some reason or another that they would be happier with someone else.
The problem with that thinking is that we shouldn’t be counting on others to make us happy. It is ultimately up to us to decide that we will be satisfied with our lives.
That’s a hard concept to live. Sometimes we just want to be a child again and have a mommy come and fix what is wrong and put a band-aid on our emotional sores. It takes a lot of courage to grow past that childhood impulse and charge through whatever adversity comes our way.
In my story, I have as much growing up to do as my fictional daughter, Melissa. I relied too much on my husband and our life together to give me happiness and satisfaction, and I had to go out and find it for myself. It wasn’t easy, but I did it, and I can be proud of that.
I am also proud to be patterned after a strong lady who did the same. Authors make happy-ever-after happen in fiction, we make it happen in real life.
For another week Play It Again, Sam, is featured in a special sale at Untreed Reads. It is just one of a number of romance novels available for a 30% discount through February 14. Click on the title link to take advantage of the sale. To see all the novels offered by Untreed Reads, click on their link.
If you take advantage of the sale, I hope you will let Maryann know. She will tell me.
Thanks for listening… er, reading.
Starting over, or leaving unhappiness behind to find it in our selves can sometimes be unnerving, frightening, or overwhelming at first. Seems like a great topic to explore through story. Not only can it be a great read, but also empowering. Thanks for sharing more about your book!
Thanks for stopping by Shaunda. Glad you enjoyed the blog piece. I learned in facilitating grief support groups that there are some people who struggle more with leaving things behind than others. I think I’m one of those. (smile)
Good post Samantha. I think learning to love yourself and be happy with yourself comes most often as you get older.
Great theme about finding oneself. It’s too easy to rely on other’s opinions, instead of forming our own!
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
Unfortunately this theme plays out all too often in real life. But it can make for terrific conflict in a fictional setting.
Oh, your Captcha / Word Verification is on. Should probably turn that off as Blogger catches 99 percent of all spam, and it makes it difficult to post comments.
Great post. Give my regards to Samantha. I love the cover with the keyboard and petals.
Wendy
W.S. Gager on Writing
Samantha had some good stuff to share today. Thanks for letting us listen in.
And I agree with Stephen. That “prove you’re not a robot” thing really makes it hard to leave a comment. Sometimes I try several times and give up. (If you’re reading this, I made it through this time.)
I hate the capcha codes, but I recently had literally thousands of spam comments that hit my blog on lots of the posts. Took me hours to get rid of them. I would love to not have to use the capcha code, but am at a loss as to what to do. If you have any tips, I’m open to suggestions.