Sunday, August 28, 2011

When Life Hands You Lemons...Write a Story

When life hands you lemons...we've all heard that saying, and many of us can certainly look at the events in our lives as a little (or a lot) sour at times.  My own personal bout with breast cancer has made my mouth pucker a time or two.  The funny thing about it though is I haven't let it slow me down much.  With a career in both education and writing, a husband who can't sit still, and three young children, a pity party just isn't going to happen, and I certainly don't want one.

For a while now, though, I've been thinking about my experience, and a meeting with my local Kentucky Romance Writers opened my eyes to something I'd been toying with.  A guest speaker by the name of Shirley Garrett (click on her name to visit her website), author of A Tap Water Girl In a Bottled Water World, explained that it was a story about her early childhood that got her speaking and writing for a living.  You see, she and her siblings were abandoned by their mother at an early age to live with an aunt who wasn't exactly the nurturing type, and their father was in the military and gone most of the time.  At the age of four, she and her siblings were adopted (by two separate, but close in proximity, families), and the first Christmas the family spent together was her first story she wrote and published.  This is a perfect example of taking the lemons of life and making a very nourishing story.

I have my own ideas for what I'd like to write down, and I kind of had an epiphany of how to go about it.  For a long time, I could only focus on the negative aspects of having cancer (typical mortal me), but now I realize that I need to focus on the positives, and yes, there were positives.  What blessings emerged from such a difficult time in my life?  I've made connections I never would have made; I've learned a few things about myself I never realized I had in me; and I've accomplished a few things I never would have dreamt before.  These are the ideas I want to promote about life's bitter events.  I think if you're going to put yourself out there, do it in a way that uplifts.  That's my goal as I begin writing about my personal experiences.

I don't know that I'll ever publish any of it, except maybe on a blog, but I think I'll be better for getting it down on paper, so to speak.

The truth is, we live in a world full of lemons.  I am currently praying for the folks along the East Coast who've been affected by Hurricane Irene.  Many of these same people just experienced a pretty significant earthquake.  We know bad things happen.  Life is all about obstacles and overcoming.  As writers, why not get a good story or two out of the bad?.

Now, I couldn't post to this blog without some kind of eye candy, so I found this oh, so, delectable model named, Nicholas Lemons.  He must be on hard times because he's apparently lost the shirt off his back *fans self*.

Happy Writing!

Cherie
http://www.cheriemarks.blogspot.com
http://www.cheriemarks.com
Into the Fire, releasing October 5, 2011 from The Wild Rose Press

9 comments:

  1. Indeed, life is all about taking those lemons and working them to our benefit rather than letting them be our demise. I look forward to seeing what comes of your epiphany and will follow your journey.

    As for Mr. Lemons...my my my....that's not sour at all! LOL ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful post, Cherie! Yes, I definitely needed this spoonful of wisdom this morning. Thank you for reminding me that good things can come out of the most tragic times of our lives. Yeah, and Mr. Lemons...yummy. I'd add him to my drinking water or ice tea any day. Hell, I'd be happy to suck the juices...heehee.

    HUGS,
    JD :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awesome post Cherie! And you make some valid points about the lemons and all, love how you got so creative as you found the pictorial inspiration with the same name! *g*

    Thanks for the food for thought!

    HUGS
    Trish

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh Cherie, you are such an inspiration to us all. Great post and you followed Jenn nicely...and Mr. Lemons was a verry nice touch. Thanks again!
    Lori

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow - I'll take Mr. Lemons home and give him a shirt.

    Kudos to you Cherie for this heartfelt post. Eleven years ago, I discovered a tumor in my womb and after that I've spent my life trying to find the blessings in everything - and as most of you know, there have some real "lemon times" for me this past year or two. But if we can take something positive out of what happens, whether we learn something or make friends along the way we wouldn't have otherwise, then it makes us and the world a happier place.

    Love ya hun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful post, Cherie! Very inspiring in helping to remind us to make lemonade out of the lemons in our lives. If we didn't our lives would be sour. Not good!

    PS. Thanks for the eye candy. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cherie, I just love you to pieces, and you are so much stronger than you think you are. I think you seriously need to make gallons of lemonaid.
    I have a friend who has written a romance, and the main character is a breast cancer survivor. The book released in 2008, and it is still the number 1 best-seller at amazon for breast cancer. If I remember correctly, her mom had a cancer scare.
    Every woman in the world can relate to this. It's almost like car wrecks. We're horrified, but can't help but look, because we know there is a very good chance of it happening to us. And books like this give us hope that there is life after cancer.
    Keep plugging away girl. You're inspiring just for being you.

    http://www.amazon.com/All-You-Love-ebook/dp/B001L5T22U/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a wonderful and insightful post, Cherie!

    ReplyDelete
  9. LOVE this post. It's something I need to read at least once a week :)
    Hugs to you. I'm so proud of you for your strength. (And thanks for the eye-candy!)

    ReplyDelete