Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Shelby's Plan was really therapy.

Writing my book Shelby's Plan was really a form of therapy for me.  It comes from a nightmare I had when my husband was suffering from Pericarditis (that is inflammation of the lining around the heart) and we were watching him rapidly go downhill.  His heart was constricted and not able to beat at normal strength.  He was sleeping most of the time or in extreme pain. I thought maybe he would die, then I had this dream about what I would do if something ever happened to him.  He finally had open heart surgery to remove the lining around the heart and recovered, but I was left with this dream and dealing with a close call.

In the book, Shelby, the main character is a widow with two sons, a lot like me.  I used my husband's experiences in the ER and his professional experiences to come up with the part of the story that wasn't in the nightmare.

Writers don't make up stuff, we rewrite reality into fantasy worlds so we can play out scenarios and rework outcomes.  That can be very therapeutic and I should know. I'm studying to be a mental health counselor and Narrative Therapy  or "story therapy" is an Australian form of therapy that I would like to try someday because it works for me.





 

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