The Call of the Wild

Bicycling on the backroads of Michigan's Upper Peninsula for the past week with 35 other people as the foliage changed colors and the clouds blew past in the September sky has left me with a thirst for more wilderness and natural interactions with our beautiful world. The exquisite blue of the sky and the rich sunsets over the lake, the hoot of the owl and the bark of the coyote, all seep into the depths of my soul and call to that which is wild within me. How can I sit, now, in an armchair, inside a house with four walls when the outside world is so alive and fresh? How am I temped to turn on the TV when the trees and plants and animals offer plenty of entertainment? Farewell to my biking friends and my camping in the midst, and hello to a desire to keep getting out there, no matter what the weather. Will you go out into Nature to commune with the fauna (animals) and the flora (plants, trees, flowers) this autumn and winter? Join me in celebrating our incredible natural world!

It's an issue of focus.

I feel ready to write the scenes for my sequel that are forming themselves in my head. I have mapped out the plot lines for the whole story and now I need to buckle down and start cranking out actual written material. But it's an issue of focus. I cannot just sit down anywhere and start writing. I need to get off by myself (which is often in my own little world in a coffee shop with lots of background noise where I can be anonymous), think about the characters (already so well fleshed out in Lillie's Redemption) and immerse myself in their world. Then, without distractions, I can begin to let the story flow and the writing comes. I don't worry about material that will later be edited out, I just let it flow. I'll come back to it later. So, carving out time and place for just writing is the key and I will have to do that when I return home and plan out my schedule for the fall. Mornings are the most fruitful time in the day for me to write. So, I will write in the mornings and then do the other things I need to get done in life. I'm ready.

I have heard from my first reader with whom I have no connection other than my book. To be hearing from people out there who love my work without ever having met me, is an extraordinary experience. He says: "I loved the story, the characters felt like friends of mine, and I hope to find out what they are up to in the future. Thank you for sharing them with us. You have a wonderful gift for story and I believe your book will be a vehicle in the healing journey for many." Thank you sir for this review!

A need to keep writing.

I have spent this past week mapping out the story of the sequel to Lillie's Redemption entitled Abigail's Porch. I was feeling unsettled and paralyzed and couldn't figure out why. It came to me that marketing my first book was not a replacement for the creative work of writing. I realized I needed to keep going and continue the story started in Lillie's Redemption. So, Lillie and Joshua continue their budding relationship, Martin is present to his family and Abigail continues to offer her wise counsel. Characters Ruth, Debra, Ned and some new ones now occupy my mind. So, keep following the story. If you haven't yet read Lillie's Redemption (available at Barnes & Noble, Schulers Books & Music in Grand Rapids, The Bookman in Grand Haven, on Kindle and Nook and on my website: www.lalobainc.com) I encourage you to do so. People are loving it and you will too.

Hello readers. I have written a book, published in April, about a small town struggling to heal from the aftermath of Clergy Sexual Abuse in the local church.

Lillie's Redemption is a powerful, fictional take on the real epidemic of this particular and most devastating kind of abuse. It is systemic, in that many people play a part in it. Often members of the congregations of these ministers cover-up the abuse they know is happening because they receive power and prestige from being close, personal friends with the offending clergyman (up to 38% of male, protestant ministers perpetrate sexually against members of their own congregations).

A lethal network of loyalty and mutual obligation is established and becomes a part of the problem. Often victims are afraid to speak up about the abuse they have experienced because they feel it was somehow their fault and they don't think anyone will believe that their minister could or would do such a thing. Even the friends or parents of victims often are swayed by peer pressure and their love of the pastor to silence or minimize the abuse experience. Denial is a huge problem. People do not want to think that their church, or any church for that matter, would be that unsafe. This leads to pretending that church is a safe place when often it is not.

As a result, this pervasive abuse is kept under the surface. No one wants to talk about it and thus churches remain a hotbed for predatory pastors to come and get away with their abuse of power and sexual exploitation. I seek to bring this out into the open. I have been affected by it personally and professionally and I know of at least 4 ministers in my community who have been guilty of Clergy Sexual Abuse.

The conversation needs to come out of the shadows and into the light where we can talk about it and then find ways to prevent it, deal with it properly and heal from it. It must be a systemic, or community, response to a systemic, or community, problem. Lillie's Redemption is my first offering to the public to reveal the horrifying reality of Clergy Sexual Abuse within the Protestant Church. It is not just Catholic priests who do this, folks!

Join me in the conversation. Have you experienced this in your community or church? Do you know of people who have been victimized or affected by a predatory pastor? Let me know your thoughts on this.

My novel, Lillie's Redemption (with compelling characters, a wonderful love story, lots of healing and a chance at redemption), is available on my website: lalobainc.com, at Barnes & Noble, Schulers Books and Music at all three locations in Grand Rapids, at The Bookman in Grand Haven, MI. as well as on Kindle and Nook. Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you. Author Lydia Waring Meyer