Lane von Herzen: For My Friends in Faith

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.

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

For My Friends in Faith

My beloved mother found this painting while traveling with friends in an impoverished part of the world. And she was overwhelmed by its depth, its resonance, its beneficence. She always kept it in a cherished place in her home. I will never part with it willingly, because now it echoes my faith as much as it did her own.

Lane MacWilliams