Sometimes there’s a story behind the book. When I sat down to write Into the Forest, I wanted to address the hate in the world. I remember thinking: what would make enemies work together? Sickness, especially if it affected one group. And just like that, the Wolf flu was born.
Writing Hymn of Life was therapeutic for me. Part of the idea for the book was born out of spite. Awful, right? At the time, I was deep in church hurt and disappointment. My husband had been unemployed for two years after leaving our old church. Life hadn’t turned out like we’d ever imagined.
I was mad at everything and the world was crazy, having shut down with COVID. Those first words will never see the light of day thanks to my first reader, Trina. However, it was a cathartic experience to write that first draft—to imagine a world that stinks and then make it better, at least on the page. Fiction is like that.
After taking Trina’s words and suggestions into consideration, the manuscript underwent its first overhaul.
The second major revision came with a change of editors. Scenes were reworked and there were lots of words cut. The story’s essence hasn’t changed however. It’s still a love story between Lauren and Aaron but beyond these two, it’s a love story between them and God.
Because at the end of the day, even in the church hurt and disappointment, I wanted to remind myself of that love story. The one that started in a manger and went to the cross, only to defeat death and rise again. The one that gives us not only eternal life but a full life, today. That’s what I wanted to remember and maybe help you to remember too.
Now you know, the story behind Hymn of Life.