The countdown begins

Or has it always been a climb?

Tomorrow, on social media, I will start a “Monday Meme” countdown: in just 10 weeks, I’m looking forward to the release of my nonfiction guide for writers, Crafting Story Movement: Techniques to Engage Readers and Drive Your Novel Forward. In a strange chronological twist, however, I’ve also been looking back at an earlier time in my life, thanks to a recent podcast invitation.

Krista Gregg, who owns a company that performs biohazard cleanups after human tragedy, wanted to expose the hidden stories of the women behind such scenes—particularly, those who had lost their husbands to suicide. Sounds like a real downer, right? Isn’t the news these days horrific enough? And in She Diaries, Krista does probe such stories for the way these women felt when faced with such shocking loss. But she does so only so that you understand the trying circumstances from which these women negotiated complicated grief, raised and provided for their children, and processed what had happened. Far from depressing, such stories are inspirational. Here’s a clip from our conversation.

Most subscribers here know that my first husband died by suicide in 1997, when our sons were only 8 and 10. The events of the daylong standoff became the spine of my second novel, The Far End of Happy. I’d written my sons’ comments during that time in my journals, and since they’d given me permission to use the quotes verbatim in the novel, I was excited to share the advance reader copies with them. Look at these smiles.

When you dive head-first into the mire of life’s most difficult challenges and fight your way to fresh awareness, you have made of your life a good story. This, more than any other thing, I’ve always wanted for myself. For more details about the real-life standoff and its aftermath, you can listen to part one of the podcast here and part two here.

Long before I found the courage to tell my own truth through fiction, though, movement was my chosen language. My life as a dancer and choreographer eventually led to a career in dance criticism, a field which forced a shift from movement into the words that must evoke it. After my husband’s suicide, I was ready to learn a more complicated language—story. Now, 25 years after diving into the mire of that challenge, I arrived at the fresh awareness that resulted in my new book—and the countdown to the release of Crafting Story Movement, during which I’ll be sharing excerpts from the wonderful endorsements I’ve received from others in the publishing world, is about to begin.

For those who won’t see them on social media, I’ll drop them into the Notes every Monday. If you are subscribed, you should receive them in your email.

But today, I’m giving you an advance look at tomorrow’s blurb. This one means so much to me, as it’s from a prolific New York Times best-selling author of contemporary women’s fiction, historical fiction, and mystery, Shelley Noble—who was also a professional dancer in Twyla Tharp’s company and a choreographer. Here’s what she had to say.

And get this—I’m starting this countdown even though I haven’t even seen a book yet! The formatting will soon be done so I can proof it. Until then, I’m moving forward on faith in my team.

I hope you enjoy reading these blurb excerpts each week,

Kathryn