Writing My Next Novel – 10 Inspirations for the Long Journey

1. A Hopeful Later-in-Life Romance

I wanted to write a book about two people in mid-life finding love despite the inevitable relationship baggage that comes with the extra years. I wanted to demonstrate that while wounds from the past stay with us, there’s a healing process that opens doors to a different future. Lauren, the main character, is pretty resistant to this process at first. She thinks recovery is something other people need.

2. A Romance that Doesn’t Idolize Romance?

I was interested in the question, “Can you write a story that fits the romance genre without idolizing the relationship?” After all, the relationship is the focus of the book. But I know from experience that making a relationship the focus of your life ends in disappointment. I wanted to show that by making God our first love, we’re not less, but more able to love each other.

3. Relationships Need Community

4. A Neighborhood to Love

Pleasant Hill is a fictional name for where I live, a Cincinnati neighborhood with beautiful architecture and green space, but stressed by poverty, crime and struggling schools. Lauren has stayed in her neighborhood and committed for years to work as a counselor in its public elementary school, but the decades up close with troubled children in a broken system is taking its toll on her. I wanted to write a story that showed Christians working together to deal with tough issues, and care for one another in the process.

5. God of the City

Many Christian novels have rural or suburban settings. I wanted a story showing how God is working in the city churches. The situations in “After All the Lost Years” are grounded in real experiences – urban kids terrified of bugs on their first camping trip, people planting gardens in neglected spaces between buildings, youth leaders dealing with kids who are self-harming . There’s never a lack of drama in an urban setting.

6. Put on Your Own Mask First

7. The View from the Other Side

It’s a challenge for me to navigate the male mind, but I wanted to give my empathy a shot with the character of Jay, telling the story from his point of view as well as Lauren’s. Jay, a recovering alcoholic with good looks and a good heart, has the complex task of balancing his longing for a relationship with Lauren with obligations to the troubled family he already has and the business he’s trying to rebuild. He doesn’t always get it right, but he’s trying hard.

8. Recovery Work Works

Jay’s character demonstrates how three years of hard recovery work – attending meetings, trusting a sponsor, working through the twelve steps – is transforming the way he lives. I love people with a few years of sobriety and twelve step work behind them. They have an honesty, humility and wisdom that’s refreshing.

9. Taking on Mental Illness

The crippling effects of mental illness on families is another theme close to my heart. In this story, Jay’s ex-wife, Char, has bipolar disorder as well as a personality disorder, and his daughter struggles with depression and self-harm. Since around one in five Americans experience mental illness, it makes sense to address it in family stories.

10. Gardens Everywhere

Finally, I was inspired to weave my love of gardening and conservation practices into this story. Making our urban spaces beautiful and sustainable is something more and more of us are working on, and Jay’s sixteen year old daughter, Sophie, is about as zealous about it as she can be!