I have started a new writing endeavor recently-you may have noticed if you’ve been around for a while. It happened quite by accident. I had been really struggling to write letters to one of my boys, who has been away from home for quite a while and wouldn’t be home for several more months. I just didn’t know what to say, or how to say it. I didn’t want to add to his homesickness, but how many ways can you really write about the daily humdrum without it becoming just mind-numbingly boring?
My inspiration came from the most unlikely of sources. I was venting my frustration at my lack of inspiration to my husband one day when he made a comment that sent me spinning into the right direction. You know those movies or shows or songs where someone writes a letter to somebody and just tosses in all of the news about everybody in town? Like, “You remember Annie May Fortean? Well, she married Fred Hopper from Masonville last week. Margaret Ann was her maid of honor. You wouldn’t believe what happened to her last week….” You get the picture. At first, I thought, I can’t do that. It would require me to have enough people in mind-people that both my son and I know well-that I could share meaningful updates about their lives. The idea of just listing off a bunch of strangers or acquaintances didn’t sit right either. It just felt forced, inauthentic. Then, out of the blue, I suddenly remembered something.
Several years ago, I had stopped at a gas station for fuel. I was standing at the pump, muttering to myself while I was pumping fuel-probably about the high prices-when I heard a voice pipe up, “Are you talking to yourself?” Before I could react, a face popped around the side of the pump. It was one of my cousins. Without missing a beat I deadpanned, “Nope. I’m talking to my seven invisible friends.” When I got home I told my kids about it, and we had a good laugh. But my sons-the same one I’ve been writing to-The Entertainer, totally ran with it. He decided to start talking to the Invisible Friends. He wanted to know their names and all kinds of things about these ‘invisible friends’. The invisible friends would get blamed for random noises, stepping on the scale (which would suddenly read 12 lbs when no one appeared to be standing on it) and all sorts of other mischief. Over time, though, the invisible friends faded away into memory… Until now.
My brain took the concept of writing about a bunch of people and jammed it together with the idea of the invisible friends-and ran with it. I sat down at my keyboard and started typing. I took little moments from my own week and spun them through the lens of The Invisible Friends. What did my life look like through their eyes? How would they respond to the things happening around me? I began writing letters to my son from The Invisible Friends, telling him about life back home through their eyes & unique perspectives. I talked to him about missing him, expressing emotions that I had been holding back, and sharing my concerns about his well-being- all filtered through characters like Mabel Pendergasp, a genteel Victorian lady, with a big heart and a penchant for telling wild, elaborate tales-fueled by her tendency for drama. Taking something as small as going to the dentist office, then transforming them into wild adventures with hungry squirrels (courtesy of Frank), or then turning that same event into the most boring day ever of car-counting with Colt.
With each letter my enjoyment of the process grew. I began researching and developing more characters. My cast of Invisible Friends quickly expanded beyond the original seven. I loved it so much-and found it so rewarding-that it outgrew my original intentions for the letters. I started sharing the characters and their stories with people in my circle, and the response was so positive that I decided to polish up the letters and added a brand-new literary section right here on my website. And that, my friends, is how The Invisible Friends Chronicles was born.
Welcome to the Invisible Friends Chronicles! Stay tuned as I continue to reveal what’s next for this wild, wonderful world.
Make sure you subscribe to The Invisible Friends Chronicles so you don’t miss a single update-the chaos is just getting started!
Image created by Mel Seeley in collaboration with Google Gemini
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