A Gift of Words

Hi everyone, Isabella Norse here. It’s hard to believe that a month has passed since my last post! As we enter this holiday season, I have gifts on my mind.

Ernest Hemingway is credited with saying “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” While few authors still use typewriters, there is still much truth in that quote. You see, a book is far more than just words and paper (or pixels, as the case may be). Every book ever written contains a bit of the author’s heart and soul.

We write when the words come easily. We stare at our laptops, mumbling to ourselves when the words don’t want to come at all. We write in the evenings after a full day at work, after the kids are in bed, and after the elderly parents have been checked on. We write when we should be doing other things, such as exercising or balancing the checkbook. We laugh when our story amuses us and cry when a beloved character dies. We experience the magic that occurs when our characters say and do things that we never imagined. (What do you mean you want to be a missionary? You’re supposed to be a hairdresser!) We agonize over book titles and character names. We wonder if anyone will ever read our words and hope that if they do, they will laugh and cry in all the right places. We tell ourselves that we must be thick-skinned, that we must not read our reviews. Then, we read them anyway and curl up in a corner with a box of tissues, five pounds of chocolate, and at least one cat while we cry over the mean-spirited ones.

Mostly, we write because we have to. We have been given a gift of words. Not using that gift leaves us feeling incomplete. So, the next time you pick up a book, be it a paperback or ebook, remember that you are holding more than just a story. You are holding a magical gift that not only transports you to a new world, you are holding a tiny piece of the author as well. Handle it with care.

In the spirit of the gift-giving season, I will be giving one lucky commenter a signed copy of the Nine Deadly Lives anthology. So, sound off in the comments. I’d love to hear from you and who knows, you may win a free book. ;-) Good luck and until next month, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  

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