My published short story launched yesterday! I am so thankful for Ember and Vine Press for the chance to try a new thing. And part of that, was the freedom to write in a voice that’s always been inside me, but I didn’t know how to get it out.
I wanted to give some background for this story since it really is so different than anything I’ve written.
A question constantly rolled around in my head several months before What Mama Knew poured out of me (and it did, pour out, once I gathered the courage to write for the Ember and Vine contest). The question:
What consideration do I give another human when they’ve been cast as less than?
I wrote this story after encountering many humans who don’t look like me or act like me; families who are in situations that would break me and keep me from joy; mothers, who some might say, don’t seem to love their children. How can a mother not love her child?
This is what I pondered long before I wrote a word.
👉I wrote this about mothers, and about humans, and about mercy.
👉I wrote this to explore perspectives, offer a nudge to treat others more gently, seek common ground with those whose differences are apparent, and pray for reconciliation on this side of Heaven.
👉I wrote this because what Mama knew might be spoken too late for the fullness of relationship on Earth. And that is something all of us run the risk of doing one way or another.
This story is a confession and a prayer. It’s a call to love, even when life is so very hard.
Find my short story in the Ember and Vine Fiction Anthology (a collection of award-winning stories by amazing authors) here.
