“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a
living being.” Gen 2:7
When my husband and I finally had an empty nest our
house eerily reverberated with…SILENCE.
After so many years, it was -- er, cough, cough -- exhilarating, exciting. Because I have such a
mommy-heart, I never thought I would actually enjoy this silence, this absence
of children.
Then I retired from work and through the
encouragement of my friend, Jan Christiansen, decided to pursue my life-long dream
to write. I had hardly begun my writing journey when people started moving into
my home. Not just one person, but several. With time, it grew to be many
people.
These are demanding, bothersome, often annoying and
irritating people. They follow me everywhere and even have the nerve to
interrupt my sleep. I find myself torn between hating them and loving them. If
I had any backbone, I would have sent some of them packing. I took the cowardly
way out. I just killed off some of them,
but then others took their places.
Of course I’m not God, but in light of the scripture
I used, I became god-like. You see, I created these people. I gave them life,
breathed into their nostrils, so to speak, the breath of life, these characters
in my novels.
Now they go with me throughout the day. They will
not be ignored. They urge me to create chapters, write continuing conflict,
expand their lives and world. Pesky creatures! I am boss. Without me, they
wouldn’t exist. With one touch of my
finger on the Delete key, they will be annihilated. I have the power.
Yet, I coddle them. I give into their whining
demands. They want so much from me. They want a different hair color, different
name, a more glamorous occupation, more romance, less romance – their demands
never end. I even pray over them. Well, not them,
but I pray over whatever I’m writing.
I absolutely love it.
It’s more fun than playing house when I was a little girl, even better than
imaginary friends.
