Monday, April 19, 2010

An Ode to my Family...

Yes, I have been listening to the Cranberries. No, I'm not ashamed.

It shouldn't surprise you all that I come from a fairly colorful, eccentric family. I mean, I have a Grandma that cheats at Scrabble and when she's caught, she shows not an ounce of remorse. Admittedly, the apple does not fall far from that particular tree. I can admit that! ;)

A few of you may remember my teases from a few months back for a little book I wrote called BROKEN. With BROKEN, I took one incident that took place in my life and said "What if?" I'm sure you all have moments like that. "What if I finished school instead of taking that job?" "What if I took a different route to work in the morning?" "What if I'd done this, when I should have done that?" The world is full of what if's....

When I was a senior in high school, my father was in a very bad accident at work. Fortunately, he survived and while he is now disabled, he is to this day alive, kicking, and getting on my Mom's very last nerve. It's great.

Close to thirteen years passed before I even considered writing about the accident. Once I did though, there was no stopping me. The story just poured out of me(well, with the help of a beta/cheerleader keeping me on track). In a weird way, it was cathartic. Weird because other than the first like three 'flashbacks' the story was complete and total fiction.

The minute BROKEN was finished, I sent it off to my mother and waited for her opinion on the whole thing. I mean, her and Dad's blessing was kind of imperative before I sent it out for the world to see. And, so I waited...and waited.

The call that I'd been waiting for finally came. The verdict was in. My dad was the first to tell me that although he hadn't read it, Mom had told him about and was fine with the book. In fact, he laughed about it. My dad and I always have shared a fairly strange sense of humor.

Mom, however, was not.

Well, I guess I should clarify that by saying, she was alright with me writing about Dad's accident. What she was not alright with was her role in the book. Never mind that it was all for the sake of literary symmetry.

So this is my written apology to you Mother. I may have killed you off, but hopefully one day we will all reap the rewards from that particular death. If not...oh well.

How about all you? Have you ever written about something that was a little too close to home? How did your loved ones react? Or, do they even know?

3 comments:

  1. You made me LOL with the "sorry I had to kill you off." Hahaha! I can see why she'd be upset with her role. I'm not in any way criticizing you for doing it. We authors do what we have to do.

    I use prototypes a lot and recently made my best friend sleep with someone who repulses her. I got in a little trouble, but she has a sense of humor about it.

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  2. LOL you're so funny :P

    i have, in fact, written something that struck a little too close to home. but i think it's also the best thing i've ever written. weird how that happens, huh?

    we write what we know :)

    best of luck with everything!!

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  3. Kirsten: ha! I might be a little peeved too if you had me sleeping with some disgusting guy! lol But, it's all for the sake of literary cohesiveness. At least, that's what I tell my mom!

    Tahereh: Yes, isn't it always that way? The things that are too close to home are often the ones that make for the best stories. Now, if only I could find a talking garden gnome in real life, then I'd be set! :)

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