Years ago, my dad started sending me and my mom Valentine’s gifts, either flowers, balloons, or candy. When my dad hit 60, it hit me that my parents were aging and I wouldn’t have them forever. Feeling melancholy, one Valentine’s Day, my flowers came and I wondered how I’d feel the first year they didn’t come. My husband sends me flowers or gifts at other times of the year, but never Valentine’s Day. That’s Daddy’s day. I hoped that in Daddy’s future absence, my husband would continue the tradition. Then I decided I might go first and if that happened, Daddy would probably bring the flowers to the cemetery.
Story Behind the Story: Kat Heckenbach
My writing journey has been less of a path and more of a circle, so starting at the beginning is hard to do. But there is a point on the circle that ties it all together. In August of 2007, I was talking with my husband, Jeff. I’d been feeling a bit out of sorts, most likely a result of my birthday the previous month. Something about birthdays can make us think about our accomplishments, or in my case, lack of accomplishments. I’d spent most of my youth expecting to be an artist of some sort because I was very talented at drawing, only to end up majoring in...
Story Behind the Story: Cathy West
My debut novel, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, is one of those ‘this is the book of my heart’ stories. I’m not exactly sure how I came up with the plot, but all of a sudden I had a desperate need to write about a female journalist who traveled to Vietnam to cover the war. Kind of funny, since I was just a toddler when that war took place. And I’m not so keen on violence. :0) But a story began to take shape in my mind, and I knew I had to write it. Others weren’t so convinced. “Been done a million times.” “It’ll never fly in CBA.” I heard them...
Story Behind the Story: Jennifer Slattery
My Operation First Novel finalist, Impossible Choices, initially started after a heart-wrenching story told to me from a dear friend. A woman who had in many ways mentored me when my daughter was young was now in need of support. After almost two decades of marriage, her husband became enslaved to addiction. But what bothered me most was that I wasn’t even aware they were struggling. I began to think of how we do Christianity. The Bible tells us we are a body, that we are to lean on one another, and that we are freed to live authentic lives, but most of us stay hidden behind plastic smiles. We...
Story Behind the Story: Paul Baines
My story is Alpha Redemption, published by Splashdown Books on September 1st, 2010. It follows Brett Denton as he takes part in a prototype speed-of-light mission to Alpha Centauri. Having lost his family in a tragic accident (for which he blames himself), he hopes to escape his misery by travelling to a new world. On the journey his only company is a learning-capable computer he nicknames Jay. At first Brett finds Jay’s questions annoying, but they soon become friends of sorts, and it is through Jay that Brett rediscovers his faith in God and finds a reason to live. The plot came to me quite quickly and I wrote...