Today has been an interesting day as I try to take "Her Hospital Story" and make it into a full length book. I came to a section where it kind of stumped me as to how I really should write it. I have so many things that I feel are so important to make sure they are included in this story to get it right. Probably the most important is the emotional aspect. I want the reader to be able to feel how I felt during this time. And to do this requires that I tap into those emotions from that time … [Read more...]
Being Thankful
You know the old saying, “God works in mysterious ways?” Well, I so believe that can happen in so many different ways. I think back on my writing journey and I’m amazed at where it has ended up. I first started looking at how to publish Mari’s book on March 5, 2011. I joined Createspace. It is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. It was really neat to be part of a community of writers for the first time in my life. For me, I had no interest whatsoever in fiction writing. All I was looking for was … [Read more...]
Hitting “The Mark”
I went and visited a website of someone I knew in our grief group back in Chicago today. The reason I visited it was because on the old blogger site I had started this one on (which is technically still up and running, don’t ask me why, it does redirect people to here however :) ) I have this woman’s website listed under Blogs of Importance. Under the listing, it shows a title of the most recent blog post. This one was labeled, “Letting go.” I thought that meant she was letting go of her … [Read more...]
Writing Fiction
I’ve been writing my first fictional book ever. It has been quite the experience. I will tell you writing fiction is so different than writing a college paper. A year ago when I started this journey, let’s just say, I was a little green behind the ears. I was so naïve to the proper rules and etiquette of fiction. Like the dreaded passive verbs (was/were/had) and ‘ly’ words. These are a big no-no in fiction (who would a thunk). I can remember growing up reading romance novels (starting … [Read more...]
The Unexpected Journey – Revised
I wrote this short story a couple of years ago. I have been told it would make a good children's story. What do you think? I would love to hear any and all comments. Thank you. The sudden darkness hit her like an overwhelming force of nature and seemed to envelope her all at once. Suddenly off in the distance, a small speck of light appeared. It drew her in as if calling her by name saying, “Ariella, follow the light. It will guide you on your new path.” So she did. As she went, she … [Read more...]
A hole in your heart
When someone close to you dies it leaves a hole in your heart. What I tell people is that a hole was left by our daughter. As the years go by it will get smaller and smaller but it will never completely be filled again until we are in heaven seeing each other again someday. For me, I do not look at the hole as something God is supposed to fill. I think we all have little holes for different tragedies, no matter how big or small, that have happened in our lives. If the hole was to be filled by … [Read more...]
The innocence of a child
It's interesting with kids the things they will say and are not scared or embarrassed by. They don't have any reason to think before speaking yet because they are still so naive to what the world holds for them. It is hard lessons over time in our lives that start to teach us to become more and more reserved. Some to the point of holding everything in and not sharing with anyone unless that person comes to truly trust someone else. I think that kids can see things as they are and are still … [Read more...]
Old and New
It’s interesting to me to have a child, my niece, ask me a question about a conversation she over heard me having with her mom on the phone talking about how I died the day Mariana died and a new Kristena was born. Athena asked me this morning, “Auntie Kris, last night when you were talking to my mommy you talked about an “Old Kristena” and a “New Kristena,” what was the “old Kristena” like?” I wasn’t quite sure how to answer this. How do you explain to an 8 year old what you used to be like? … [Read more...]
Changes in life…
First let me start off by saying long time no talk. I am sorry I have been gone for a while. A lot has happened in my life since the last time I posted anything on Mari’s website. I look back at the date of June 23 and it seems like a lifetime ago. On July 15 Keith and I headed to Chicago to be with Mari (so to speak) on her 3 year mark of being gone. July 16 was officially 3 years and we spent some time at her grave. It is hard to believe that 3 years have already come and gone but they … [Read more...]
Life’s Moments…
I am here at work today just having a normal day. I had a book by Angie Smith called I Will Carry You that I let someone borrow. It is such a story of encouragement to me while at the same time it made me ball like a baby. I could so relate to her story. It truly touched my life. I am ever grateful to have been introduced to this story at my women’s retreat this past March. I let a coworker borrow the book to read. For her it was just too sad and so she had laid it on my desk this … [Read more...]
