Thursday, May 22, 2014

Dear Jayne - Why I write what I do.

Did you ever get a Dear Jayne letter?

I did. In my second year of college. Until that time, I'd been the one in a relationship to break off the romance. I still remember the day the letter came. I couldn't believe what it said. He was going to marry a girl who had been their family's foreign exchange student years before.

I threw myself on my bed, sobbing, my heart broken. I refused to attend classes for the next two days and lamented what was so wrong with me that he would choose a girl he hadn't seen in years over me who he had been dating him on his leave from the Air Force.

When he came home to buy her ring, I did what any rejected girl would do--I went out with him. Yes, I tried hard to win him back but it didn't happen. I was in love, you see. Deeply in love.

Or so I thought.

Life has a way of throwing us curve balls. That incident carved deep scars in my ego and self esteem. The next few guys I dated paid the price. When I finally married my real true love, he also felt the scars. Trust didn't come easy.

Why am I telling you this story? Because life is full of these kinds of events. My path is strewn with them. I journal and journal when they happen but sometimes only words leave me--not the emotions.

I tried writing sweet romances.

They fell short. Very short. I needed something else from my stories. I wanted to watch the woman conquer the pain in her life. Even if it meant that not everything worked out in the end but at least she didn't give up.

So that's why I write Women's Fiction. I love the journey we go through. I love writing about the emotions and the way we turn to God for guidance and trust when our worlds turn upside down.

Life isn't always about the rainbows. But they come.  After the mountains. After a few valleys. After a few letdowns and trials.

They do come. But what a journey until they do.

Why did you choose your genre?

7 comments:

Lillian Robinson said...

Wow. I felt your broken heart.

I've never been into the romance novels. I enjoy a romantic sideline, and even 'happy ever after' endings, but I want the substance that your genre gives--real life. The real stuff that we go through.

I am excited that their are some newer Christian romance authors out there (Jody for one) that give real life to their stories, deeper than the romance.

I think most romances are pretty predictable. It's the struggles in life that are unique and give that special quality to fiction.

Great Grandma Lin said...

my genre is non-fiction-wantaing to capture history and biography for the healing it brings...

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Every experience we have has some measure in the shaping of who we become. I love your reason for why you write.

Nikki (Sarah) said...

and I love reading your insights from your life journey.Beautiful words Terri. And inspiring. Have an amazing weekend.

Cheryl Klarich said...

As always, I love your inability to be untrue to who you are. (Awkward sentence.) ;)

Authentic writing is the best!!

Bless you.

Cheryl Klarich said...

As always, I love your inability to be untrue to who you are. (Awkward sentence.) ;)

Authentic writing is the best!!

Bless you.

Anonymous said...

Somehow, I never saw this. I love your blog posts. They're real.
(Shirley)