We’re in this together

This past week has been quite a week, not only for me personally, but for the Women’s Fiction chapter. With so many fabulous women in our group as finalists in the Golden Heart and the RITA, it can be intimidating for the rest of us. But with Rachel Goldsworthy’s “Using the Power for Good” post kicking off the week, I quickly became aware of how all of us—especially writers–influence others, whether we’re multi-published or still seeking that first publishing contract. I found Rachel’s post so inspiring; I fired up a post on my blog this week called “Pondering My Calling During Holy Week.” But what I want to share in this post is how we all affect one another and how what one person writes and shares with others, can have a ripple effect for good.

Like many of us, I’d dreamed of writing novels “someday,” had even dabbled in writing as a kid, but couldn’t get past the “flowery” prose. And to this day, flowery descriptions escape me. As for plot, well, what did I have to write about? Then, one day, on a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean, relaxing out by the ship’s aft pool, soaking up some sun and feeling absolutely at peace with the world, I burst into tears. My deeply felt and long-repressed feelings refused to be silenced any longer. I had to face the truth: I had to find my father.

And it was that journey that prompted me to write my first manuscript about, what else, but a woman searching for her father. I’d found my plot. And this theme runs through all of my manuscripts at some level or another. In the meantime, I began to reach out to other women who hadn’t known their fathers through a blog, and then, eventually, I wrote a book called “Myths of the Fatherless,” debunking Society’s myths of what not knowing your father means to a woman. I included other stories in my book from writers I’d met online who’d also experienced something similar.

Blog comments and emails revealed to me that I was not alone, and it was especially gratifying when others said my words had helped them. I even received a letter from a father asking my advice on how to go about contacting his daughter for the first time. But, eventually, this subject ran its course, and I retired the book to focus solely on fiction.

But in Kathie Lee Gifford’s book, “Just When I Thought I’d Dropped My Last Egg,” Kathie told the story of how during a personal crisis, a Catholic Bishop (she’s not Catholic) comforted her and urged her to offer up her pain for others. So she went to Washington D.C. to testify for underpaid workers of the world, and this effort turned a bad situation around for good.

This prompted me to reconsider retiring “Myths of the Fatherless,” and I made it available on Kindle just in case somebody out there would find it helpful. It’s such a personal story, and every time I try to rewrite the fictional version of it, the emotion overcomes me, and I put it aside. Someday, I tell myself, someday I’ll know how to write it.

So, then, the third inspiring event happened this week: our own JoAnn Ross blogged about her journey to find her father, to find her family, to find herself. She wrote it openly, honestly, and brilliantly. And JoAnn telling her story strengthened me and inspired me to tell my own story.

And I hope that my story will be a springboard for some other writer to share their story. We do have power as writers, and no matter where we are in our writing journey, our writing can help others.

Kathy Holmes

http://www.kathyholmes.net

Kate Austin

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