Lane von Herzen: You Can Count On Me

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Thursday, December 25, 2025

You Can Count On Me

When my grandmother was alive, she always used to combine family Christmas invitations with a follow up question: Can we count on you?

She entertained large and boisterous crowds at Christmastime, and she wanted to know if we would be among them.

Would there be two turkeys or three? Four pies or five? Enough love for a gaggle or enough love for a throng?

These things were important, and she was planning them with matriarchal authority.

Some of the most transformative truths among family members are never spoken, but it's miraculous when they are.

Who hugs whom first and longest and best? Who speaks the longed for words during Grace before the meal? Who sits closest? Who laughs loudest? Who asks for compassion and who receives it?

The best answer to all of these questions is You can count on me.

This is what my grandmother taught me, and this is what I am speaking again, in her honor.

You can count on me.

My family members know this is true, and I hope, on this Christmas Day, 2025, that the wider world feels that way, too.

Merry Christmas to all those who hold high hopes for our loved ones, our neighbors, our nation, and the magnificent blue orb that we call home.