Books as a lifeline

I would like to jump on the bandwagon here and highly recommend "The Hunger Game." I got caught up in it immediately and read it through like I haven't since my first read of the Harry Potter books or Twilight series. Anyone who enjoyed my short story "Third Trial" will like this story. Not to compare the two in the sense that one is a novel and incredibly successful and not written by me. The other is a short story, published in a little known anthology, and yes, written by me. It is the anthology that there is a link to on this blog because that is by far the crowd favorite in stories I've written. Not my Mom's favorite but I never could glean which one was. Maybe the other story that is in that book about Alzheimer's.

But "The Hunger Game" is the same type dystopia (as an editor called my story in a not so flattering way). It is also the kind of sci-fi that feels very reachable. I think there is almost nothing I love more than a book that demands to be finished. If only I wrote books that demanded finishing instead of lazing around on my hard drive, the characters perfectly happy to nap the day away if I will just leave them alone. Then I read a book I love, like this one, and it makes me want to go over and shake them awake. My dream has always been to be able to write books that will make people feel the way I feel when a story sweeps me away. No matter what a person's life circumstances are they can escape them for a time. I wonder if part of the reason I loved this book so much is that I feel like I am in the midst of my own survivor story. Certainly, the stakes are not nearly as high as they were for the main character but she still had to survive, wake up each day, keep breathing, and make it through.

I am in process of a much smaller endeavor right now. I want to get some thoughts down for a "chicken soup for the caregivers soul" book. I will let you guys know if I get it written and submitted. If they reject it, so be it but at least I will have put something out there. I will have woken up, kept breathing, and made it through.