Happily ever after?

     Without question, this has been the hardest book I have ever written.  There is so much emotion in it that I was not sure I could properly communicate it.  I had to gauge what each character was feeling.  For me this was not an easy task.  I had to be sure to balance each character’s feelings in relation to what they faced, or had faced.  In life people do not react to tragedy in the same way, though they may still hurt the same.  The mourning period itself deviates from one person to another.  To one person the mourning subsides after a few months.  To another it goes on for years.
     I have to confess that my own experience of losing my wife last year has affected me in the writing of this book.  It did not prompt me to write the book because I had started the book before she died, though I had only a few pages written.  Even so I feel especially connected to the book because of my wife’s passing.
     I find it difficult to judge the worth of this book.  Is it a good heartfelt drama that emphasizes the Christian experience?  Or will it be perceived as a mawkish narrative of an overdeveloped theme?
     If nothing else I hope it conveys some important Christian truths that we sometimes neglect while finding faults in others.
     I think we all want to live happily ever after, but in life, even happily ever after, comes with some scars.

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