Imagine Today: March 2022

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

#IWSG Post

Okay I don't know how March snuck up on me so quickly! February seemed to move like a snail and all of a sudden it's March 2nd and it's the first Wednesday of March which means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post! The IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh as a place where we can share our fears and successes with a supportive environment. The IWSG is a wonderful community to meet other authors, hear their struggles, give and receive encouragement and friendship and it has been named one of Writer's Digest top 101 sites for writers!!

Come join us!

Thank you to this month's co-hosts: Janet Alcorn, Pat Garcia,Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence! Please go visit them!

The optional question for March is: Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

Yes, I have. When writing my nonfiction/memoir book One Year on Broadway which just released last August, I was conflicted about writing the chapter detailing my parents' anger and refusal to allow me to date my husband because he was half Japanese. There were some pretty horrible things said to both of us. One night in particular they threatened my husband with harm if he ever saw me again.

Of course my husband and I have been married now for over 27 years. My parents apologized before our wedding and deeply regretted their actions. They have been wonderful to us ever since.

Writing the first draft, I put everything in, all those pent up feelings that I thought I had let go a long time ago came out in a very vivid, emotional scene. But I knew that I couldn't publish that. Those shouted words that had been burned into my brain that night so long ago, now written on a page would have hurt my parents as much as they did us when they were first said. That was never my intention for writing our story. Their words spoken in fear and anger did not define who they really were.

I wanted our story to be more about the forgiveness and the capacity to love deeply even when hurt by someone.

So I rewrote the pivotal scene to be more like a series of sharp photographic flashbacks instead of full narrative. This way, I could get the point across of what occurred and still protect my aging parents. They had only been trying to protect me.

Sadly, my father passed only a few months before it was published, but my mom read it and I'm happy to report that she loved it so much that she has recommended it to all her friends and our relatives!

Also don't forget to stop by April 6th for my interview with Alex J Cavanaugh about his upcoming release CassaDark!!!