Two Chapters Left!

So, I was really hoping to report that I finished the rewriting of FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM this week - but I can't. I wanted to tell you that we're on to the next part of the plan - but we're not.

We're getting awfully close though, and y'all, I am so hype about it. I knew the story would grow with the rewriting; I knew it would be longer because of extended dialogue, new scenes, added descriptions, edits to necessary plot points - but you guys. This book has nearly doubled in size, and I am so proud of how much better it is, not because it's longer, but because it pulls you deeper into Christine's mind and experiences as she works to rebuild her life after her husband nearly murders her in an absolutely grotesque power play.

Understandably, this book is just as difficult for me to work with this second time; at first, Christine's story was something of a tribute to my mother, and the seed of a dream that one day, I will open a Safe House and institute a holistic healing program like the one in the book. Now, the story is enriched by my own experiences with domestic abuse over the years, and while my personal growth makes those experiences easier to deal with, it doesn't make the deep thoughts and feelings of situations like Christine's easier to explore in such intimate ways. The legal aspects of Christine's case are complicated too, and admittedly, they were somewhat shortchanged in the first edition of this novel because of two major factors:

1. I didn't know nearly as much as I do now, nor was I able to connect to the proper resources for information.
2. Having grown up the way I did, I wrote abuse similarly to the way I saw and experienced it - but because those are the makings of much of my childhood, I seriously underestimated the horror and severity.

That being said, correcting those issues presented new one in themselves, and while I'm working around those things to give FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM the very best, the legalities of a case like Christine's are also complicated by the culture of victim-blaming that still hovers around the edges of domestic abuse, and even without the impact of those issues, the court systems are still doing the best they can to keep up with constant changes in our society regarding what constitutes abuse and what punitive actions are appropriate. These things are all addressed topically throughout this first novel in the Freedom Series, but will come to greater exploration in STILL FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, which I will be working on next.

In the meantime, I'm off to get ready for church, and then I'll spend this evening writing my way through the rest of chapter 20! See you next week - or if you like getting updates and tidbits of a more personal nature, follow me on social media, where I'm sharing my favorite quotes and why I love them, occasional snapshots from behind the scenes, and every now and then, even a TikTok.