Behind the Book - Runaway Summer

As I was flipping through channels one day, I came across a movie starring Jennifer Lopez, called “Enough” and it looked pretty interesting. The story was that she had taken her daughter on the run from her abusive husband and started her life over in a new town far away, but he finally caught up to them. But, by that time, she’d learned self-defense and she traps him in his house and starts a fight with him, killing him in self-defense in the end. At the end of the movie, her song written for the movie “Alive” is playing. The lyrics alone from that song are what the heart of my book is about:

Time goes slowly now in my life.
Fear no more, of what I'm not sure.

Searching to feel your soul,
the strength to stand alone,
the power of not knowing and letting go.

Love, in and out, of my heart,
and though life can be strange,
I can't be afraid.

Searching to feel your soul,
the strength to stand alone,
the power of not knowing and letting go.

I guess I've found my way.
It's simple when it's right.
Feeling lucky just to be here tonight,
and happy just to be me and be alive.
I guess I've found my way.

It's simple when its right.
Feeling lucky just to be here tonight,
and happy just to be me and to be alive.

Throughout most of the writing, I had that song on repeat, playing softly in the background. It helped me “feel” the emotions of what my main character, Lexie, was feeling throughout the story.

The abuse scenes were EXTREMELY hard to write. Fortunately, I’ve never experienced that, so tapping into that emotionally was really hard, plus, the fact that a child was involved in some of the abuse… it was really hard on me emotionally. In the final editing process, I’d almost took those scenes completely out, but felt that they added to the reader’s emotional connection to Lexie and Kaylee, so I kept them in.

In the end, I hope that I’ve given the readers a heartwarming story of hope after turmoil.