It’s been a while. I started this blog almost fifteen years ago while working on a novel, The Arsonist’s Last Words. My original post was about joining a site called Twitter and trying to figure out how to “build my brand” as a writer. Agonizing. To finally see a book in print was a dream come true, and then came the work of selling it. Writing is a solitary business. Marketing is the opposite—it feels like bragging, which is a sin among my people. I can’t take a selfie without feeling guilty. But this is a different world now, so let me tell you about a new project.
During the COVID lockdown, I started to write his story. There were only so many closets to clean, and he remembered nothing of the first few months of his recovery. People who see him now would be shocked to know that he deals with a TBI. He looks and acts “normal.” That’s a word we used to take for granted. In reality, nothing has been the same since the phone rang that night, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
The book is called Remember to Breathe. You might think a story about head injuries would be dark and depressing, but it’s the opposite. There were so many heroes who stepped up to help us. The kindness of strangers continues to fill me with awe. So many strange and wonderful things happened in the wake of Graeme’s fall, from finding long-lost family members to running into the man who saved his life. If I’d written the fictional version, it would be too over the top. Graeme wants everyone to know that even on the worst days, there’s hope. He’s living proof.
If you’d like to read a few excerpts, see Prologue, The Call, Life As We Knew It and The Golden Hour.
Blog Posts
You should know, this blog has a huge reach. It’s often read by eight or nine people. I never managed to stick to a consistent theme—topics ranged from cats to gun control to Andy, our neighbor with dementia. This was my journal, a way to make sense of troubling events, like the death of Robin Williams, the loss of a cousin while mountain-climbing, and the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. By far, the post with the most hits dealt with a questionable cancer doctor. To date, it’s been read by more than 50,000 people. To hear from readers around the world has been humbling.
As a writer, you never know which words will resonate, which will drop to the bottom of the well without a sound. It might have been better if I’d stayed away from politics, but as a student of journalism and American Studies, keeping quiet was never in the cards. If it costs me a few book sales, so be it.
Please understand that those of you who do read my words are precious to me. Knowing that even one person has read and understood is one of the greatest joys of my life. It would be easier to quit, but that connection keeps me coming back. Thanks, and I love you dearly. You know who you are.
