Darkness to Light {CELEBRATE This Week: 216}

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I want to remember this moment. 

They are each holding a copy of my brand new book, Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. It's almost a little too much. 

These guys, the ones I share breathing space with, are the whole reason the book exists.

They didn't make it easy to write.

The kids each flipped through the book looking for the stories with their names.

I wrote a circular ending to Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. I didn't want to write a circular ending, but life has a way of turning things inside out.

I learned through blogging to write endings. I learned through blogging that sometimes, whether we're ready or not, the ending has to come. The same is true when writing books.

It's true for life, too.

Sometimes it's time for an ending and we don't want it. I know about that kind of ending. I've sat at too many funerals when the ending arrived and I didn't want it. 

The same was true for Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. It wasn't the ending I wanted, but it was the ending I had to offer when it was time for it to end.

This moment, the one where my kids from hard places held my book in their hands and read their stories of hope and courage, this moment feels right. 

"I like the way you wrote the acknowledgements," Andy said. "They gave me a little lump in my throat."

"It's not easy turning darkness to light," I said. 

"No," Andy agreed. "Your book, though, I think it has the potential to do just that -- to turn darkness to light."

I hope it does. I hope this book lands in hands across the globe. I hope it helps you turn darkness to light in your corner of the world. This world needs more light. And teachers are just the ones to shine it.

Through November 30, if buy the book and forward your receipt to enticingwriters{at}gmail{dot}com, you will receive a free registration to my new course, Enticing Writers Book Club.