This post is a little bit guilt and a little bit gratitude. Let me explain.
Some of you know I’ve been working on a novel titled Shadow War for about a million years now. Okay, maybe not a million, but sometimes it feels like it. It started as a screenplay, but I realized it was too much story for a film. So I decided to rewrite it as a novel. Easy peasy, right?
Noesy poesy. Never having written a novel before and having no clue how to structure it, I simply started writing. Oh, wait. Is this where I should tell you that the things you write, the actual words on a page, are different. A movie demands that you write scene descriptions and character actions clearly. All the actions are in the present tense. “Bob runs down the street.” In a novel, it’s often past tense. “Bob ran down the street.” Set designers want to know what to build. Actors want to know what to do. Costume design wants… never mind, you get the idea.
Novelists will give you more of a character’s feelings, their inner dialogue. You must be careful to choose one character’s point of view at a time, or the reader will get confused if you jump from head to head in the middle of a conversation.
I’m sorry if you’re waiting for a rant of some sort or an exploration of how horrible/useless/misguided our politicians are. Those are fun sometimes and essential lots of times, but that isn’t the totality of who we are.
Today, I want to talk about some of the people in my life. They make my life better just by being themselves. I hope you know people like these.
They won’t show up in order of importance except for the first. Last year my family blessed me with a hardbound copy of Shadow War. My wife grabbed a Word document from my laptop, and then they sent it off to a company to print it. I guess they saw I’d given up on ever getting one of the big publishing houses to publish it. After holding it in my hands, I knew I wanted, no, I needed to finish the project. I’ve been giving it a final final FINAL edit. I’ve been working on the cover using an app called Canva. I’ll look for bloggers to review the book when the edit is done. I hope to launch it on Amazon on my birthday, June 30th. Don’t worry about forgetting. I promise I’ll remind you when I’m getting close. So that’s the first gratitude.
Jeff works for Delta Airlines. He’s the kind of person you look for because you always feel better for talking to him. If I see him in the distance at the airport, that’s almost as good because it reminds me that he’s still around. Jeff has one of the most fantastic side gigs in the country. Every year, at the Grey Cup game, he’s the guy who leads the Cup out to the field. He’s also written a children’s book called “Not Without My Teammates.” It celebrates his father’s career in the Canadian Football League through the lens of racial and gender inclusion. He decided to write it after I’d spoken to him about Shadow War. He gives me credit for inspiring him. I don’t say this to brag but to show that even at that moment, Jeff wants to shine some glory on other people.
Derek also works at the airport with me, and well, a couple hundred other people, too. I enjoy our conversations. We come to them from different starting points. I live someplace on the right side of the political spectrum, and Derek is somewhere on the left. To be honest, though, I’m sure we’ve both lost some confidence in those old labels lately. I think Derek has a perspective worth thinking about. I don’t think I could do it justice, so I’ve asked him to write a guest post for me, but so far, he hasn’t agreed. I’ll keep trying.
So many of my coworkers are younger than me. I must sound like an alien being to them. Yet, most of them are willing to be kind, to listen compassionately, and trust that anything I say is meant in the best possible way, not the worst. In fact, one of them, Jenn, has been so good at this that it has compelled me to become a better listener. She deserves that. I can even forgive her for thinking Mamma Mia was a great movie.
My path through this life has convinced me I have so much to be grateful for. I’m not a glass-half-full kind of guy. My glass is full, to the top, spilling over. I have a wife I adore, and she’s given me three sons whom I love more than I know how to say. I have friends who are kind to me. I belong to a church that has welcomed me. I have people like you who read my posts. Most importantly, I have a Saviour who gives my life not only joy but purpose.
I suspect that you’re like me. There are things we still want to accomplish or experience. Our lives aren’t over. But before you begin to climb the next mountain, take a moment to savour the place you’re standing now, to be grateful for the blessings you’ve already received.
Oh yeah. One more thing I’m grateful for. Thanks for patiently waiting for my posts.
Have a great day!