Lane von Herzen: Why I Would Rather Have a Phone Call from Washington D.C. Than a Fifty Billion Dollar Payoff

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.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Why I Would Rather Have a Phone Call from Washington D.C. Than a Fifty Billion Dollar Payoff

Because I truly care about our country's future.

No disinformation created by a corrupt FBI can change that.

My character, my integrity, and my faith are the most important gifts I have to offer.

Propaganda may be powerful, but we should not allow it to prevail.

The soul of the nation cannot be purchased by an overflowing Bitcoin account.

Nor can it be defamed by AI-generated films seeking to demean the most virtuous among us.

Rather, it is defined by our insistence on the truth, on the profound bonds to one another within our families and among our friends, and on our faith that good can emerge from every situation, even the most difficult.

I believe it is up to us to claim the soul of the nation for good.

If we ourselves are not strong enough to insist that we are a courageous, virtuous, honest and worthy nation, no one else will be.

Knowing this, we cannot falter in our resolve.

We, as reasonable, just, and benevolent people, must join hands to expose the far right's engagement in falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-democratic objectives.

And we must ask the American electorate, with all of its reason, justice and goodness, to join hands with us.